Toph and Zuko: sensual reunion- Toko
by Anniered
Summary: After a few years the group reunites for a few days at the Western Air Temple. One thing leads to another and now they are in the Fire Nation. Love and conflict awaits. The story is viewed through the eyes of Zuko, Toph, Katara, Aang, Sokka, Suki, Haru, Teo, Iroh, Jin, Smellerbee, the Duke, Jet and Longshot.
1. Damn you, Sokka

"You should be more careful!" Zuko yelled.

"If we were being careful, it wouldn't be a sparring match!" Toph retorted. The length of earth that she had shot from the ground had pierced his shirt and torn it all the way to the collar, narrowly missing his chin and exposing his stomach and chest- of course it was an accident, she had not expected him to be so quick, even the best benders slip.

"Fucking hell!" he shouted storming away to his room in the Western Air Temple to attempt to mend his destroyed shirt. Everyone was shocked, except Toph she could feel the anger in his vibrations and awaited an explosion.

"Well, I have never-"

"Can it, Katara." Toph snapped.

This was supposed to be an enjoyable stay at the restored Air Temple. Now she was angry at the one person she had the missed most. They had been away for at least 3 years, maybe 4? All that Firelord responsibility shit.

The moment Aang arrived on Appa to collect Toph, Zuko was the last person she embraced, but the longest. The trip was great, all catching up, so much was happening: Suki and Sokka engaged, Katara hinting at Aang that they should be, Zuko and Mai didn't work out, Toph teaching her own students.

Team Avatar had been separated for long enough, when they landed at the temples, they swiftly set up and got into their old habits of competition.

"Let's eat!" Sokka shouted to break the tension.

They all showered, ate, laughed and reminisced, Suki and Sokka flirting and giggling amongst themselves. Katara and Aang have one of their moment. Toph sat alone, stirring what she thought must have been some mixture of banana and onion? As Sokka couldn't catch anything worth eating, Aang made something.

She dropped the bowl on the ground and stood up, she caught a smell of something else from the mixture, garlic maybe? Who knows. She walked away before the smell could seep into her clothing.

She stalked up to the doorway of Zuko's room and figured where he was by the vibrations. She spun into the doorway and looked in his direction, seeing nothing, but feeling his movement. Zuko was pacing, he stopped and stared at her. "What? Come to apologise?" he snapped at her.

Fury flashed across her features, and Zuko regretted his words immediately. "You ass!" She growled, she spun to leave, but Zuko lunged for her small hand. "Wait! Let's just talk!" he pulled her into the room. Toph stumbled and lost her footing, crashing into the stone bed. She growled.

"Just go back to the damn fire nation! Gah!" She cussed at him, standing straight and crossing her arms under her breasts, unintentionally making them more pronounced. Zuko was momentarily distracted, last time he had seen Toph, she had a young body, now she was developed. Full hips, slightly taller and round small breasts.

Zuko was still angry, he moved across to her and grabbed her chin, tilting it upwards forcefully but gently. Toph scratched at his hand, but he restricted them with his second. "What is your problem?!" Zuko growled.

"What is your problem?!" Toph replied.

"Apologise! You ruined my shirt!" he snarled. Her heart raced, she could feel the heat from his bare chest and face burning into her, she tried to struggle. "Bite me!" she spat, trying to jerk her head from his hold.

Zuko moved, he lowered his head to her neck and bit down. Toph gasped in pain, he bit again on her shoulder, she moaned this time. He released her hands and wrapped his arm around her small waist, and continued to bite her, Toph grabbed his torn shirt and pulled it from his shoulders, it landed on the floor, the vibrations ran up Toph's leg. Zuko shuffled her backwards onto the concrete bed, laying her down and lowering himself onto her.

He undid the buttons on her shirt, and kissed between her small breasts, her fingers tangled in his hair. He moved up to her face, her small fingers lingered on his scar tissue, her legs wrapped around his lean waist. She felt everything, yet saw nothing. Their lips met and Zuko moaned gently, his hands ran down her sides and caught on her pants. With a slight moan and a lot of concentration, Toph lost her pants, their lips moved together and the heat from Zuko's skin was almost burning her pale skin.

"I missed you." He whispered to her, and started kissing down her neck. She moved her hands to his hair, "I missed you." She moaned.

"Come back with me, please?" he begged, lips at her ears.

Toph brought his face to hers, their lips met again, when a loud voice came.

"Toph! Zuko! Where are you?!" Sokka yelled, Toph slammed her hand to the ground and measured the vibration. She groaned, they knew he was near, Zuko handed Toph her clothes and slipped his vest on. Sokka rounded the corner as Toph stormed out, knocking him into the wall.

"So, she is still angry? Did you even try to smooth it out?" Sokka laughed.

"We were getting to it." Zuko mumbled.


	2. A little story about the milk & the cow

**The more R/R, the more chapters. Enjoy, and be honest.**

It had been two days since the rendezvous in Zuko's room at the Western Air Temple. Toph was still angry towards Sokka disrupting, and also towards Zuko for not trying to resume it. Aang was currently the only male that she didn't want to bury in a mountain of earth. Katara had noticed her anger and dragged her and Suki to a nearby river, and by nearby she meant, a direct drop to the bottom of the cliff.

"So, is there any particular reason you want to kill Sokka and Zuko? Besides the usual?" Suki asked with a laugh, she was laying in the water while Katara cleaned her hair.

"Men are dumb." Toph replied, gently massaging her feet in the cool water. The floor of the river is rock, so she is able to see the bottom, and the vibrations of the water, but barely.

"Though it is a reason, not very original, Toph." Katara laughed. "They do suck. Like they can't even take a hint!"

"I know! Sokka doesn't even want to think about when the wedding will be! Or where! We will probably be engaged forever!" Suki complained. This is what Toph was afraid of, conversations about love and weddings.

"That is what happens when you let him have the milk without paying for the whole hippo-cow." Came a new voice, they turned to see Smellerbee and a giggling Ty Lee, "The rest told us where to find you." She smiled. Ty Lee executed a routine of cartwheels and tumbles before leaping gracefully into the water.

"Who said I give him '_milk'_!?" Suki shouted, blushing.

The others laughed, "There is only one reason anyone would put up with Sokka, the sex must be great, because the humour isn't." Mai sighed out of nowhere. _Mai?_ Toph groaned internally. She knew Katara had sent out invitations to old friends… But _all_ of their old friends?

"Gees, quite the gathering we are getting." Toph said, disguising the annoyance with a smile. Though Toph couldn't see, she could feel everyone had changed physically. For those who could see, Smellerbee had grown considerably, her hair was still and mess, but her figure and features were more ladylike and she dressed to complement them, yet still practical. Ty Lee ditched the pink for more tradition Kyoshi Island clothing, but was much the same with the flexibility and optimism. Mai was taller still, and had elegant high-born features that made Toph growl when Katara complemented her on them.

"I withheld all _milk_ until I got what I wanted." Smellerbee laughed, holding out her slender hand, displaying a thin gold band, crafted to look like an arrow wrapping around her finger. "Only took two months before Longshot begged me to follow him down the aisle. Men are simple."

Suki flushed red. "_Two months_?! I have been engaged two _years_!"

"Ha ha! Maybe you should just make him beg from now on!" Ty Lee giggled.

"Out of curiosity, who is your best, Ty Lee?" Suki smiled.

"Gosh! Don't ask me that! Now I have to think…" She laughed and winked.

The conversation on marriage and sex continued, Toph had no clue what they were talking about but laughed at the joking anyway. The other night with Zuko was most sexual contact she had ever experienced. She wondered idly if Zuko had seen Mai, if maybe he regretted what happened between them, maybe he hadn't come near Toph because she wasn't any good? God, this is so not like her, since when did trivial lovey-dovey shit bother her.

"What about you, Toph?" Ty Lee asked, pulling her back to reality.

"Yeah, who is your best?" Smellerbee echoed.

"Oh, erm." Toph was caught off guard. Thankfully someone was looking out for her.

"That would be highly un-noble of her, wouldn't it, Toph!" Katara smiled.

"Spirits forbid I be un-noble!" She chuckled back and succeeded in drawing attention away from her. "Thanks, sweetness." She whispered to Katara, punching her in the arm. Katara just flicked water at her.

…

Hours passed as everyone relaxed, as the sun lowered, Katara started to gather berries and fish to take up top. Smellerbee and Ty Lee caught some birds to contribute to the feast. Toph used earthbending to get everyone back up to the Air Temple.

Sokka, Longshot and Zuko went to get dinner, while Aang and the new arrivals stayed behind to prepare. Haru and Jet were gathering firewood while Tao and Aang build up the fire and chatted happily, Tao was showing Aang his father's latest modifications to his wheelchair. It had been modified plenty in the last 3-4 years, it is more streamline and now has a lever that makes it tip upwards so Tao can stand, though the wheelchair is attached to his legs, so it comes up with him.

The Duke was concentrating on sneaking up on Momo. The Duke had easily changed the most of all, he shot up in the time he had been away, his rounded face was more angular and he had quite a pleasant face, though he was younger than anyone, he looked like he was more mature. It was then that the hunting party returned, carrying a huge Sabertooth Moose-lion, it couldn't have been more than a few years old, but it was big. Aang looked horrified, remembering back a few years ago, "A Sabertooth Moose-lion?! I thought you liked them?!"

Toph laughed and yelled, "So, you were reunited with Foo-foo-cuddly-poops?" as Momo almost knocked her over, followed by the Duke. The Duke landed on Toph and laughed, pulling her to her feet, Zuko flashed red.

Sokka shrugged, "Unfortunately for him, he is made of meat, anyway, we are in the wrong area for it to be Foo-foo-cuddly-poops."

Toph felt for Zuko's vibrations and found him, he was still coming up the stairs to the meeting area, she listened carefully for when he would be able to see Mai. When Zuko and Mai saw each other, both their hearts stuttered, Mai's played up longer than Zuko's, but they displayed no external interest in seeing each other, they greeted each other civilly and continued with their conversations, Toph smiled.

It took ages, but finally the food was prepared, huge masses of steaming meat, bowls of fruit, steamed fish and fowl were handed around the circle. Then, with a cunning smile, Mai and Ty Lee unloaded two very large barrels of wine from their air balloon. "This is my contribution." She half-smiled. "Drink up, losers."

…

"Whateryou trying to say?! I am- I am totally a better fire bender than you! You silly Avatar!" Zuko yelled, breaking twice to laugh, empty cup in one hand and full cup in the other. The empty cup was pointed at Aang, he downed his drink and threw the second cup on the floor.

"HA! Whateverrrr, Sifu Hotman! I could kick your butt anyday!" Aang laughed back, also downing his own drink. He fell sideways from laughter and Zuko joined him.

They had been drinking for hours, while they were still coherent, they made Toph and Haru build stone barriers to prevent anyone falling off the edge of the upside down temples. There was not one sober person in the group. They were all spread out and messing around, Appa lapped up some spilled wine.

"Katara! Can you tell me what… _milk_ is like?" Toph asked, sipping from her cup and giggling at her reference to the earlier conversation. Suki, Katara and Ty Lee looked at her, not out of shock, but because she _giggled_. Smellerbee looked up from her cup towards the group of girls. "Maybe that wasn't as quiet as I thought." She giggled again.

"It is great!" Ty Lee smiled, sloshing her drink on Toph's leg, "well not the first time, but it gets better from there!"

"What happens the first time?" Toph smiled innocently.

"It hurts." Mai shrugged, back with her refill. Toph immediately fumed, but kept it hidden with a long sip of wine.

"Oh."

"Well! I eed a refill! Did I say 'eed' or 'need'? Ha ha!"

"You're so silly, Sugarqueeny!" Toph laughed at Katara. Toph stood and took Katara's cup, "I will getchu a refill." She walked, more stumbled, to where the barrels had been placed. Not a wise move, she thought as she stumbled toward the barrels. She walked around to the barrels behind a pillar holding the temple to the cliff. She felt someone coming towards her. "Hey twinkletoes! Doyou think the Air Nomads convinced some Earth benders to make these upside down building thingys?"

"Twinkletoes? Wow, you must be drunk!" Zuko laughed.

"Sparkle Princess! You! You get girly feet work when you drink! Ha ha! Wait, foot work!" She laughed, spilling red wine all over her hands and arms. "I have a question for you, Sparky. We totally got physical the other night, and you haven't spoken to me since, what's with that?"

"I have tried! You never lemme get you alone." He said, trying to refill his cup, and failing.

"We are alone now! What did you want to say?"

"That I didn't act like that on a magical whim! I missed you, and you are attractive and of marrying age, so I don't feel guilty about having this feelings towards you." His words came out quickly and almost impossible to understand. "I mean! Look at you!"

She rolled her sightless eyes. "Oh, right. Well, lemme describe yourself to yourself. You are beautiful, Toph. Soft, white skin, big eyes and dark lashes. You have a delicate waist, but through your wet shirt, I can see you are strong and muscular, your hips and breasts have developed to be, well, wow." He blushed, she blushed harder. "Crap! Sorry, that came out perverted… "

"Have you ever had sex, Zuko?" she asked suddenly, she was about to say 'milk', and chuckled at the thought of his reaction if she had said it. He froze, staring at her.

"I have not. Mai and I never reached that point, plus tradition for royalty and high born say we should be married. Have you?"

"No. Earth nobles are bound by the same, er, guidelines." She smiled sheepishly.

His hand brushed the hair off her face, across her cheek and behind her ear. "Toph," he leaned in, "let me kiss you." His lips met hers before she could answer, the effect on the wine made them excited as he pushed her against the wall and continued to crush his lips on hers, she complied and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer. They were unsteady at first, but the drunkenness seemed to evaporate the more involved they became.

One of his large warm hands cupped her thigh and lifted her against the wall to his height, they broke their kiss and Zuko moved his mouth to her neck, lightly sucking and biting her skin, the wine in the cups she held poured over his shoulder and down his chest, then splashing onto her. Toph giggled, and Zuko chuckled, both clumsy. He slowly ran his tongue over the areas sticky with wine. She sighed and dropped the cups on the ground, he placed his knee under her, giving him a free hand, it wondered down the side of her body and stopped at her knee, slowly and cautiously under her shorts.

"This is excul-escalating quickly!" She laughed, her breathing hitched, but she did not protest. He slid his hand deeper under her shorts and could feel her warmth, he ran his fingers over her gently, she put her hand over her mouth. Though there was enough noise around them, she did not want to be heard. He paused at her entrance, she took a deep breath and grabbed his hand, half smiled- before sliding his finger into her. She cried out with pain into his shoulder, Zuko was surprised, but continued to slide his finger gently in and out. She grabbed the back of his head and crushed their lips together, his tongue gently spread her lips and entered her mouth.

There was a gasp, Suki stood before the two. Two empty cups in hand. Zuko removed his finger quickly, forgetting the effect it would have on Toph. She gasped at the pain, and bit down on her lip. "Suki!" Zuko said surprised, he lowered Toph gently to the ground. He was seeing two shocked Sukis, not sure who was the real one. Toph stood silently refilling her cups as best she could, laughing at the déjà vu of the situation, spilling wine all over her hands.

"I won't say a word." Suki smiled and slightly swayed, she was the least drunk of all. She filled her cups and walked back to the rest. Toph swayed and caught herself on the pillar.

"We should re-join everyone, they'll notice by now for sure- seeing as Suki just came and went." Zuko slurred. "Not that I want to part from your company." The drunkenness swarmed around them, now they were not distracted from it. They filled all cups and stumbled back, it seems no one had missed them. Except for a pair of eyes that watched them return, Mai watched them take their seats next to each other and continue to drink merrily, they may had parted, but feelings still stuck with her. She was thinking daggers at Toph.

"What happened to your hand, Zuko?!" Katara gasped, his finger was smeared with blood. His ears felt like they were on fire. Suki shot him a look of realisation, she hadn't noticed as much as she thought, Mai's ears pricked at Katara's outburst.

"It is dry wine!" He lied with a laugh. He and Suki casting a concerned look at Toph, who laughed with The Duke and was oblivious to the conversation. Jet was mock fighting with Haru, by fake bending, or simply throwing small rocks at him.

Everyone slowly started to calm down, as the wine was gone, Appa had licked up the spilled wine and lay, stained red with a drunken Momo, Aang and Katara cuddled up in the saddle. Haru slept with an arm over Ty Lee, and a few small marks on his neck. Jet, Mai, Suki, the Duke and Sokka sprawled out over the sleeping bags. Toph lay across Zuko's chest, snoring quietly, Zuko slowly slipped into sleep, the horrible headaches were not something any of them looked forward to, but expected none the less.


	3. Recovery Day

**The more R/R, the more chapters**

"If you don't stop that ridiculous racket, I swear I will drown you!" Katara yelled, though it came out a loud croak. The morning had arrived, and everyone wanted to crawl into a deep badger-mole hole and die.

"Katara, no one is doing anything!" Jet mumbled back, sitting up slighty. Wheat was tangled in his hair, making it even more wild- he nudged a sleeping Haru, checking to see if he was alive.

"Sokka is snorning!" she complained, throwing her empty pouch of water at him, missing him and hitting Suki.

"Fuck, Katara!" She yelled at her, "My head hurts enough already!"

"Shut-up!" Smellerbee grumbled. Clutching her head and stomach. Longshot, nodded his head. "I agree, Longshot."

"I think I am going to be sick…" the Duke groaned, covering his mouth and stumbling towards to edge of the temple, Toph bended the makeshift wall from the night before away, to allow somewhere for the Duke to vomit, besides in the sleeping area. They entire group screamed at light blasted them, the sun was rather low in the sky and on the wrong side. It must be afternoon. Everyone's eyes adjusted to the mess from the night before: Haru and Toph had a competition of who could make the most realistic statue of someone, there were stone Sokka's and Aang's even Momo's. Katara had attempted with water and wine ice statues, but they had melted. Wine was on the stone floor and the barrels had been smashed. The wine stained Appa, making most parts of his coat pink. Longshot had scratches up his arm from when he fell onto his arrow bag, which could have been bad.

"Ew, I need a bath." Mai sighed, untangling her hair, stuck together with wine. Ty Lee sat up and half smiled at her sleeping companion. Jet nudged him again.

Zuko stretched and yawned, Toph rolled onto the ground next to him. Looking up at him, she heard a gasp from him.

"Toph! Your nose!" he shouted. She brought her fingers to her nose, and felt dry blood under and around it.

"I remember this, damn the Duke came out of nowhere." The Duke turned around from being sick and displayed a cut across his forehead. "I don't think we did this whole, drunk thing right. I mean, from the sounds of it, everyone is either dead or bleeding…"

"That was some night. Ah, my arrow…" Aang massaged his arrow. "Appa! You need a bath! This whole place needs a bath."

They lolled around for another hour, before Katara, Aang, Toph and Haru went down the cliff side. Using waterbending, Katara and Aang gathered as much water as they could, and Toph ad Haru bended a platform to carry them back to the top. They splashed the water over the area and Aang and Zuko dried it. After the sleeping area was clean, it was Appa's turn, half climbed on Appa, and the other half went down with Toph and Haru.

The water was warm, due to the sun shining all day and warming the rocks. Zuko rode down on Appa and turned to watch Toph descend, he keeps seeing strange, fuzzy images from last night. They all reached the lake and got into the water, scrubbing the wine, blood and dirt from their bodies. Most didn't even remember how majority of injuries were caused.

Zuko turned to find Toph, she was sitting in the shallows, untying her hair and letting it fall into her lap. He watched her brush her fingers through the thick, beautiful hair. He approached slowly, and sat next to her.

"You have beautiful hair, I don't think I have ever seen it out before." He smiled.

"Meh, it does what I need." She twisted it up into a large messy bun, I will wash it after I get the blood off me, she thought.

"I wanted to talk to you, about last night." He started slowly, "I keep having fuzzy… Flashbacks? I guess, anyway. I was wondering what you remember? I feel like, maybe we did something we shouldn't have, yet…" He finished quietly.

"Yeah, I am kinda a little, tiny bit sore. And my lips are bruised…" She didn't know what to say.

"Sore where?" He asked, already knowing the answer, his ears started to heat up. "Toph?"

"Well, all over, but… Well, you know…" She didn't want to say anything out loud. "You know what? This is a bad time to talk. I need to clean myself." Gee, never thought being clean would be a useful excuse. She also couldn't believe that she was making excuses, what was she? Twelve? She is almost sixteen! She was being like a love struck child. She sighed. She could feel Zuko's gaze and looked up to meet his, sightlessly.

He looked at her, her eyes meeting his, usually her eyes are a little off, looking at his forehead of shoulder, this time, it was spot on. She sighed again. She didn't feel herself, she punched him, that was better.

"Come on! Take me into deeper water, Sparky." She held her hands out and he took them, pulling her towards Katara and Suki, the closest, cleaning each other's hair.

…

"Wow Toph! Look at your hair! It is beautiful… Well, once you remove the twigs and mud." Katara smiled, pulling currents in and out of her hair. The group had been relaxing for at least another hour. Katara had healed most injuries and tried to tackle the hangovers, but she didn't know how to go about it. So they suffered.

Mai sat with Ty Lee and watched Zuko, he had his hand on the small of Toph's back and the other holding her hand, keeping her afloat. Ty Lee noticed Mai's eyes narrow when Zuko complemented her hair also, making her blush. "Mai? Mai? What are you looking at?" she followed her line of vision to Toph, Zuko and Katara. "Why are you looking at them?" She asked, standing on her hands and walking in circles.

"No reason. Drop it Ty Lee." She sighed. "It isn't like I care who he ends up liking. He only has a year left before he is forced into marrying a woman of royal or noble birth. She won't be a problem then."

Ty Lee looked up at a smiling Toph, and convinced herself- Mai didn't need to know that she had as much chance as any. A sting of betrayal made her second guess herself, but at that moment, Zuko looked over and smiled at her. She smiled back, locking her knowledge away.

Mai still watched, she was not usually the jealous type, but this small peasant was starting to irritate her. Maybe because she only ever had to click her fingers, and she was worshipped by Zuko, but she gave it up when she had grown bored. Well, more bored than usual, he was obsessed with finding his mother, restoring peace, and learning what he can about other nations. So, they decided they needed to break it off. She had better not come back to the fire nation, otherwise Mai would have to intervene in some way.

…

The sun set, colouring the sky with oranges and pinks. Everyone was chewing on Sokka's seal jerky. Well, except Aang, but he didn't mind. "This is the laziest day, I think, I have ever had." Smellerbee said, shoving another piece into her mouth. Longshot raised his eyebrow and partly smiled, "No way! This is way lazier!" she replied to his expression.

"The next party should be at the Firelord's house!" Ty Lee smiled, grabbing another piece, and leaning into Haru.

"Actually! We have an announcement… The next party is going to be… At my house! Or Suki's! Either way, we decided on a date." Sokka smiled.

"Wow! How exciting!" Aang and Katara said in unison. "Can I marry you?! I totally can, you know!" Aang continued without hesitation.

"Err, Twinkletoes, Sokka is already kind of engaged to her…" She smiled, they laughed.

"What! I didn't mean-"

"Of course! We would love that!" Suki laughed, standing and embracing him. "It is about time we got it together, I thought it would never happen!" she referenced the conversation from the other day with the girls.

"This is going to be an odd wedding." Toph chuckled to Zuko and the Duke, "One bride, and two grooms." They laughed back.

"Too bad there is no wine, we could have toasted!" Haru shouted, dissapointedly.

"Oh fuck! No more wine!" Longshot replied, with a smile. Everyone stared at him and burst out in laughter.

The conversation calmed and Suki and Sokka were bombarded with questions and wedding ideas. Zuko looked at Toph and asked, "Can I steal you away? Just for a moment." She looked up at him and nodded.

…

They walked to the edge of the temple and swung their legs over the side. They smiled about the conversations from the day, and re-challenged to a sparring match. Zuko placed his hand on hers, and stared at the stars that were just appearing. "Okay, okay! What is on your mind, Sparky? Spit it out." She sighed.

"I recalled what happened last night. I-I cannot believe I did that to you. I am sorry, so sorry."

"I kind of made you, it was my hand that guided yours. If anything, I forced you!" she smiled.

"...Your hand? What?"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" she was confused.

"I… deflowered you, Toph. Wha-why are you laughing?!"

"You didn't deflower me! Ha ha ha!" She calmed down and said softly, "You used your, er, finger. Not your male equipment." She smiled widely. "I am still very much, flowered." She punched him in the arm.

He sighed, "I remembered, kissing you, and then… you were in pain, and there was blood… I thought… Thank Agni." He looked at Toph when she raised an eyebrow, "I mean! Not that I wouldn't want to! I, er, damnit."

"Lighten up, Sparky! I get what you mean." She punched him again.

He hesitated, then smiled. "One more thing… A few nights ago, when I… Ambushed you in my room. I asked you to return with me to the fire nation. I was serious, Toph." She smiled at him.

"I know you were serious. But, what is in the fire nation for me? I have really enjoyed our moments, but if we returned together, what would I do while you go about your Fire-Lordy business?"

"You act like I will be accepting 'no' for an answer!" He smiled wickedly. "Lady Toph Bei Fong, just for a year? And Uncle will be there!"

"A whole year?! With you?! Do you have a death wish?!" She laughed, knowing it was pointless to argue. Not that she could refuse, because she did want to go.

"Come on, Blind Bandit. We still have three days to make a decision on what you need to take." He laughed cockily, pulling her to her feet.

"If I honour you with my presence!" she smiled.

They walked back to the group, finishing up Sokka's seal jerky, and re-admiring the stone statues from the previous night. Suki smiled up at them.

"You know," Sokka started, "I think I might take this handsome guy home with me!" she smiled at his stone copy, spit shining his face and kissing its cheek.

…

Toph felt Zuko stirring as he attempted to get cosy in his sleeping bag, they slept apart that night. She appreciated the chance to think without being distracted, but she found herself searching for his vibrations a few times. The vibrations got softer as she drifted off, Momo curled up beside her as she closed her sightless eyes. "This will be an interesting journey." She sighed to Momo, he squeaked in return and she disappeared into sleep.


	4. The Rematch

**As usual: The more R/R the more chapters. I have been out of internet for 3 days, so I am putting up 2 chapters. Enjoy, and stay honest.**

"It was great to see you, Mai." Katara smiled as they loaded her bag onto the air balloon, Mai and Ty Lee were heading back to the fire nation two days early, the plan was to pick Ty Lee up when they drop Zuko off. Toph hadn't actually stated that she was staying with the Firelord yet, she wanted to make him sweat.

Toph no longer felt any annoyance towards Mai after she noted Zuko's reaction on the night she came. Though, she didn't yet know of the feelings Mai had towards her. "Let's go already, we will see them in a few days." Mai sighed, not meaning to be rude, more impatiently. Ty Lee hugged everyone and gave Haru a sneaky kiss before leaping into the air and landing on top of the balloon then sliding down and landing next to Mai.

They waved good-bye until the balloon was just a speck. Aang convinced Tao to a race around the cliff faces. After the other nights events, his wheelchair was broken in three places, no one remembers how, but after some quick work from Sokka it was still usable.

Sokka cooked up the remainder of the sabertooth-mooselion and collected more fruits. It wasn't until after breakfast that Katara had realised that she had done something stupid, she was laying out washed clothes when she noted that her dress looked… Smaller. She laid out the clothes in the sun, water bending the water out, only her clothes, Tao's and Toph's were in this particular pot. "Hey Toph, how many sets of clothes did you bring?" Katara asked cautiously.

"Erm, two? These ones and the ones in the wash pot." Katara swallowed, the clothes had shrunken at least two sizes.

"That is all you brought? For a week?!"

"Why do I need more? I am used to being dirty." She smiled, bending her bracelet into various shapes. "Why?"

"All of our clothes, um, shrunk." She tested the water, it was warm, everyone knows that hot water shrinks clothes.

"What? How?!"

"Zuko, when I asked you to heat the stew for last night… What pot did you boil?" Katara asked, holding up a dress that would have fit her 6 years ago.

"All of them? You said to heat the stew pot. They were all stew pots!" His voice got higher as he spoke, watching Katara's expression change from curious to furious.

"Did you even bother to check inside them?" Smellerbee asked, lifting the tiny dress.

"No! I thought if one was food and the others were clothes, they would be separated!" He had a point. Toph walked over and picked up her shrunken clothes, and held them against her body, feeling where they came to. At that moment Aang and Tao returned, Katara told Tao what had happened.

"Dumb-dumb heated our clothes, shrinking them!" Katara growled.

"Mine are baggy anyway, maybe they still fit?" She said holding the shirt to her again.

"Well, I refuse to let you wear that again, the stains have stains. Go see if it fits."

"I have another two pairs, I should be fine. Damn, I liked these shorts." Tao sighed.

Toph sighed and walked behind the pillar and briefly stripped off and put her small clothes on, the shorts still fit, but were significantly smaller, her top was also tight, she could feel it sticking to her body like a second skin. "Suki! Come here!" she shouted.

"Yeah, Toph- whoa! When did you get boobs?!" She laughed before thinking. "Shit, sorry, Toph!" she was still laughing.

"So I take it looks bad?" Toph asked. Usually her shirt went down to her knees, now it sat a bit down her thigh, and her shorts were now above the knee.

"No! You look… mature? Ha ha, hot? Whatever takes your fancy?" She smiled, not wanting to make Toph uncomfortable. Toph half-smiled, and shrugged, walking back out into the meeting area with Suki.

"Yeah, well, here the Duke- do you want thes- whoa. Looking fine, Toph!" Tao smiled.

She felt a bit self-conscious, Sokka and Aang's mouths fit the floor, and then Zuko turned towards her he dropped his spoon. That made her smile.

"So, are you of marrying age yet?" Jet winked at her. "You know, for curiosities sake…" he smiled widely.

"Should an earthbender wear tight clothes?" Tao asked.

"Yeah! I can still move a bit... Speaking of which… When are we going to spar, Sparky?" she smiled in his direction. Damn it, why did she have to blind? His expression would had been great.

Zuko looked at her and shook his head to clear it. "You actually want to verse me? In your nice new clothes?!" He smiled at her. She put her hand under her chin, pretending to think.

"I will make you a deal, Princess. You beat me, I will go with you to the Fire Nation, willingly." She smiled.

"And if you win?" He stood and walked towards her.

"You will have to drag me!" She winked as she widen her stance and shot her hands upward, a pillar of earth separated them, Zuko flipped out of the way and blocked the follow up boulders that came flying at his chest with his swords.

"Watch the food!" Sokka yelled.

"And my bag!" Jet yelled using his hooks to whip it out of the way.

"Oh, are we starting now? Or is this just your warm up?" he laughed as he stuck his swords into the ground and shot fire out of his feet. Toph jumped backwards off the ledge executing a flip that Ty Lee would have been impressed by, while still in the air, she thrust her hands together, almost crushing Zuko with two boulders, then quickly bending a ledge lower down for her to land on, as soon as her feet touched the stone- she let the slab of stone drop, pulling up only as it was a short distance to the rocky riverside. She bended a slab out of the mountain that covered the river area making a level field, once on it she could see clearly.

Zuko landed gracefully across from her, swords at the ready. She shifted her foot, and thrust her arms forwards, the ground before Zuko jolted back, he stumbled, she raised her arms, sending him flying through the air, leaving her blind to his location. He landed less than a metre from her right, she moved seeing his intentions through his vibrations. She widen her stance and kicked her left leg directly up, the movement was accompanied by a loud tearing sound. The earth beneath Zuko rocketed up again, he was able to jump and dodge being shot into the cliff face.

Her shorts had ripped from the thigh to her hip on her left side, this distracted her for a second. He took advantage of her distraction, and firebended at her, she fell backwards to avoid the flames and bended a rock at him, which he dodge smoothly. While at a disadvantage, he pulled out his swords and crossed them across her throat. He smiled at her, she looked as though she was going to tear him a new one.

"I do believe I win. Did I mention how much I love your new clothes" Zuko smiled. He was admiring the length of flawless skin that was exposed by the rip. She knew that using a surprise attack could result in serious injury from how his swords were placed.

"Gah! Cheater!" She yelled, as she pushed the swords away- forgetting they were sharp. "Ahhh! Fuck, Zuko!" A long, clean cut across her hands left blood dripping down her wrist and to her elbow. She grabbed her wound with her free hand. "Katara! Get here now and help me!" a wounded hand makes it hard to earth bend.

The rest of the Gaang had come down to watch the fight and witnessed the whole thing, Katara worked on Toph's hand, and Haru put the riverbed back together.

"Don't touch it! You will get dirt in it!"

"Toph! I am so sorry!" Zuko tried to comfort her. Aang just tapped him on the shoulder and shook his head.

"I am fine, just leave me alone!" She was pissed, and embarrassed for losing, to a firebender. The cut wasn't Zuko's fault, she was the one that caused the cut. The water soothed her wound, and healed it slightly. The water had turned pink from all the blood swirling in it.

"You may need another session," Katara said, examining the cut, "it is quite deep."

"Here, Longshot has a bandage." Smellerbee wrapped it tightly around the still bleeding wound and tying it off. "The amount of time Jet gets us in scraps, we have a whole aid kit in his quiver." She answered to Sokka questioning gaze, Longshot's quiver was almost full with arrows, where could the bandage have fit? Longshot lowered an eyebrow and nodded.

"Yeah, you are not wrong." Jet said. "He said that when you go from place to place, you learn to use up as little room as you can." Talking at Sokka, who still had a questioning look.

"HOW COULD HE HAVE SAID ALL THAT?! HE ONLY NODDED!" Sokka yelled.

"Logic?" Jet sneered.

"Familiarisation?" Smellerbee shrugged.

"Deduction?" Longshot said with a smile.

…

There was a scream as a Fire Nation hawk circled and landed, the Duke pulled out the letter and handed the hawk a scrap of meat, before walking to the camp and handing the letter to Aang.

"I can't read." The Duke shrugged.

"Don't worry, neither can I." Toph smiled, her hand engulfed in healing water. A fine red line was all that remained of her gushing cut. Katara was trying to remove it.

Aang unrolled two scrolls, "This one is for you, Zuko." He said handing the scroll to Haru, who handed it to Zuko. Aang read his whole letter with a blank expression, he has learnt to do so to not spark concern.

_Avatar Aang;_

_Your presence is requested at the Fire Lord's palace _

_in 4 days from the rise of the full moon. It is of_

_crucial importance that you be there. The meeting topics _

_will be disclosed on arrival, to ensure a non-alliance and _

_neutral response. A reply is expected._

_Admiral Meei & General Loou_

He raised his eyes to Zuko, he was yet to open his letter. The hawk screamed, everyone jumped. Not realizing they were all quiet. Zuko stood and walked towards Aang, then passed him. Aang turned and followed him, he gave Katara a brief smile when he passed her, letting her know nothing was wrong, yet.

"Who wants leftovers?!" Sokka hollered. Making everyone jump again.

"I have been summoned, well '_requested'_, but the tone of the letter suggests I have no choice." Aang said when they were out of hearing range. The lean 17 year old earthbended a rock to sit on, and one for Zuko. "You haven't read yours. What are you expecting?" Aang asked.

"I have been Fire Lord for three years, Aang. The rebellion still goes on, I will admit, it is nothing like it was three years ago. The number of remaining rebel groups is definitely in the single digits. But the nation is looking towards me for guidance." Zuko sighed. "I suspect, this letter is telling me that I will need to start taking steps to ensuring the future of the nation. They tried to discuss this with me before I left, but I was too excited and basically ran when I saw Appa descending to collect me." He put his head in his hands.

"When you say '_ensuring the future'_ you mean, take a wife and produce an heir. Right?" Aang said. "Well, you are the Fire Lord, tell them to wait. Why am I needed?"

"Fucked if I know. Your guess is as good as any," Zuko grumbled into his hands. "I am guessing the co-signer of my letter is Mai or another firebending higher-up or noble's father." He opened his letter and scanned it, he was right, the letter even had the sentence "_ensuring the future of the nation_" in it. And it was signed by Mai's father and seven other people of importance, four of which had daughters of marrying age. Zuko sighed.

"Maybe we should go back early? And prepare?" Aang asked, half smiling. "The rest of us could come? Or, whoever wanted to. It doesn't say 'exclusively the _incredible_ Avatar and _irresponsible_ Fire Lord…' right?" he joked.

"I guess it doesn't," Zuko smiled, "if we are leaving early, I think it should be tomorrow. I will send a reply saying to have spare rooms made up. Once we see who is coming along."

"Well, I heard Smellerbee, Longshot, the Duke and Jet saying that they couldn't stay past tomorrow… So, it might just be the old gang plus Haru and Tao?" Aang smiled.

"Well, let's go talk to the others. But the reasoning for the meeting should remain secret for now." Zuko said, standing and walking back to the group.

…

As Aang guessed, Haru and Tao wanted to tag along and the past Freedom Fighters politely refused the offer, needing to return to their new home. Zuko scrawled a quick reply and sealed it in the hawk's pouch with Aang's- then sent the bird on its way.

Toph grumbled, "Even if I didn't want to go, a deal is a deal." Zuko nudged her playfully, catching her hand before she struck him. The hand had a faint pink line across it, from where the deep cut had scarred over, not even Katara's healing could fix that. Guilt washed over him, as he ran his finger across it.

"Maybe you shouldn't come, I don't want to be murdered in my sleep…" he smiled.

"Oh, don't worry, Sparky. I will get you back. Just wait."

It took the team three hours to gather everything onto Appa, they were ready to leave at day break.


	5. Palace Whispers

**I know there hasn't been heaps of Toko in the last chapter, or much this one. But bear with me. You know the drill, R/R or no chapters. Stay honest. Enjoy.**

"Come on, Appa! You have rested long enough!" Aang yelled, trying to coax the great creature out of the water. He had a huge bowl of fruit in one hand and Appa's whistle in the other.

They were at the halfway stop between the Western Air Temple and the Fire Nation, Aang thought it would be a good idea to let Appa have a break and a snack. As it is the middle of summer, as soon as the flying-bison had put his feet on the ground, he bolted towards a large river, and was laying in the deep water. It was endearing at first, but three hours later, it was time to go. Appa had no intention of leaving the water without a drama.

"MMOOOAAAARRRRRRRRRAAAGGG!" Appa protested, as Aang blew into the whistle again.

Zuko and Toph sat next to each other on a large rock, entertaining themselves by chatting happily about various topics.

"So, what is this meeting for? Are you in trouble?" Toph smiled, throwing a small rock at the distracted Sokka. She put her hand down on Zuko's, but didn't remove it.

"I am not sure," Zuko lied smoothly, "but I suspect I am in trouble." He didn't want Toph to learn that he was supposed to marry someone in an unspecified time limit. Especially when he thought about the private moments, or not so private… The next time they have a moment together, they need to make sure no one is around. He frowned slightly, if there _is_ a next time.

"You are lying, we have known each other for, what, five years? Four?" she said, "And you still forget I am quite the lie detector." She threw another rock at Sokka, who threw it at Haru.

Zuko cursed at himself, of course she would pick up on a lie that would have fooled anyone else. Aang had finally gotten Appa out of the water and was air drying him. "Come on, let's go! Before he runs away again!" Aang yelled, flipping up onto Appa's head. Toph launched herself onto Appa, and felt her way to the edge of the saddle. After all these years, flying still sucked.

"Yip yip!" Aang shouted. Appa shot up, climbing until Aang tugged on the reins to steady him. This was the worst part, as Appa drops slightly before steadying, it made _certain_ flyers feel like they were going to be sick.

"Urg, fuck this." Toph groaned, covering her mouth.

"Still don't handle flying?" Haru asked, rubbing her back. "I would have thought you would get used to it."

"You and me both." She sighed, she needed a distraction, after a while she asked, "So! You and Ty Lee, eh? Don't even try lying, your heart practically stops when you and her see each other." She smiled.

"Hers too?" he smiled hopefully.

"Yeah, you stud," she punched him. "I swear I heard it breaking as you kissed good-bye." She proceeded to make the sound of a heart breaking, and kissy noises. Haru laughed and then narrowed his eyes.

"Like you can talk! You and the Fire Lord often get cosy, you aren't as sneaky as you think- Ow!" her fist had connected with his arm again, she laughed. He turned to see the back of Zuko's head, he was sitting on Appa's head with Aang. The Avatar was meditating while Zuko controlled Appa's reins.

"Pity he probably has to marry a Fire noble or royalty or someone high-up. You two would have made a great couple."

"What?" she asked, she hadn't heard anything about this.

"Well, he needs to marry someone soon. You know, to prove he can produce an heir?" he looked at her, she was looking at him, she sightless eyes boring into his. "Toph?" he asked.

"What? I was just offended we haven't gotten an invite!" she huffed.

Haru half-heartedly smiled. "Yeah, he has got to find someone first."

…

Appa landed in the Fire Lord's palace garden, where a flock of servants awaited, Zuko's feet had barely touched the ground before he was whisked away.

"I will find you later!" he shouted back at them. More servants unpacked Appa and took all the luggage to the appropriate rooms.

A small, plump man walked towards the group of confused arrivals. "Greetings, I am Geio. I am your personal friend and events manager." He clicked his fingers and a group of servants came towards him. "Take the Avatar and his friends to their rooms, and then lead them to me, I will be in the events hall." Geio turned swiftly and trotted away.

…

"The palace is just as I remember it." Aang sighed, collapsing onto his bed, Momo curled up next to him. "I don't know whether that is good or odd." He looked over at Katara, standing in his doorway- as they were not married, they could not be in the same room with a bed and no supervision. It was out of respect for the culture.

"Why won't you tell me about the meeting? Maybe I could help?" she ventured into the room, closing the door behind her.

"I should not seek help on a subject that I have been asked to stay neutral for. It needs to be only me. Besides, Zuko already alerted me to the possible topic, now I already have ideas of what to say." He smiled, pulling her onto the bed with him.

She traced the arrow on his forehead and kissed his nose. Aang had become even more handsome, his rounded features turning into angles, Katara smiled and properly kissed him. "Maybe, they won't mind if you spent _part _of a night with me?" he grinned, kissing her back.

A knock on the door made them both jolt into a sitting position, Aang's personal servant walked cautiously in, "Avatar Aang of the Southern Air Temple, I have a message for you." She placed the note on the table and removed herself quickly from the room. Katara walked over and handed it to Aang. He read quickly, one eyebrow raised.

"What is it?" Katara asked, popping a firenight berry into her mouth.

"The meeting has been moved forward, seeing as we are early I assume." he said, looking up at her. "Looks like you will find out, you are allowed to sit in on the meeting- but _only_ to sit in… That bit was underlined." He smiled.

"I can't talk?" she puzzled. Then smiled, "How will I live if I cannot force my opinion on those around me!" Aang laughed and pulled her into his arms, kissing her playfully.

"It will be an interesting spectacle to see." He mumbled against her lips, falling back onto the bed.

…

"Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, there is a message of utmost importance for you." Sokka's servant said, handing him the note. He and Suki were about to go for a walk around the palace garden, forgetting about Geio, he nodded at his servant and walked back into his room, shutting the door behind Suki. He opened the letter and read aloud to Suki:

"_Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe,_

_After careful consideration, you have been _

_requested to __witness__ the approaching meeting. _

_Only to speak when spoken at__. The meeting is _

_at sunset in the war room. Suki of Kyoshi Island _

_is welcomed._

_Admiral Meei & General Loou_"

"Well," Suki said after a pause, "Why do they want us all there?"

"Us all?" Sokka asked, studying the letter, "It only has our names?"

"Think about it, we aren't going to be the only ones there, any bet Katara, Toph, Haru and Tao are invited. Aang probably wanted to have an entourage." She smiled.

"…Or backup." Sokka said as he looked at Suki.

He still wasn't one-hundred percent won over by the citizens of the fire nation, he loved Zuko like a brother, but always had his guard up when it came to his people. Nobody handles being on top of the world, than being told you are equal well. Without another word, he grabbed his boomerang bag and sword.

_(He, Katara, Toph, Suki and Aang had spent three weeks searching for his lost space sword, with success.) _

He walked out the door and took Suki's hand and set out on the stroll they were about to leave on earlier. There was at least an hour before sundown, he threw his arm over Suki's shoulder and kissed her head. She didn't like it when he was on edge, but there was nothing she could say to help.

…

Toph was strolling with Haru and Tao in the garden, shotting rock shapes out of the ground and telling jokes. She then heard footsteps she didn't recognise, she prepared her stance, as her servant paused before walking slowly towards her. "Lady Toph Bei Fong, a message for you." The servant handed the letter to Toph, who passed it to Haru.

Haru read aloud:

"_Lady Toph Bei Fong of the Bei Fong household,_

_After careful consideration, you have been _

_requested to __witness__ the approaching meeting. _

_Only to speak when spoken at__. The meeting is _

_at sunset in the war room. Tao of the Northern _

_Air Temple and Haru of the Earth Kingdom are _

_welcomed._

_Admiral Meei & General Loou_"

"That is strange, why would they want us in on the meeting?" Tao asked, taking the note of Haru. "And how did they know where I was from?"

"Hey guys!" Sokka called, walking swiftly towards them, Suki trailing behind. "You got a letter too?"

"Yeah, I just saying it was odd." Tao said, handing the letter up to Sokka. Sokka skimmed the letter, than he suddenly lowered his eyebrows, Toph felt a change in the pace of his heart.

"What is it?" Toph asked.

"It has you, Tao and Haru in it…" He started.

"What, did they spell our names wrong? Heaven help the scribe if they did." Toph smiled, Tao chuckled.

"No, but how did they know you three were together in one spot?"

…

"Fire Lord Zuko, please hold still. We are almost finished and then you can find your friends." They were talking to him like he was a child- not the twenty-one year old Fire Lord he was. "There, done! Now go play!" He was resisting the urge to throw something at his servant, then he remembered that she was in her later years and meant no harm.

"Not so fast! Fire Lord Zuko." Someone said just as he was about to make a break for his friends.

"What now?!" he turned, seeing his favourite servant and Iroh. "Sorry, Uncle. Sorry Taki."

"Do not fret Fire Lord Zuko. If my friends came to visit, I would not wish to bother with jobs and responsibilities." He smiled, handing him a message.

"How are you this evening, nephew?" Iroh asked, taking a sip from his small cup of tea.

"The meeting has been moved forward?" Zuko asked, "Why?" unintentionally ignoring his Uncle.

"I am afraid I do not know, but it cannot be good." Iroh shrugged.

"I don't think you should find your friends, Fire Lord Zuko. You only have an hour before you and your uncle will be summoned." Taki haf-smiled. Zuko sighed and sat back in his chair.

…

"Katara! Where is Aang?" Sokka yelled.

"Shut-up! Do you want the whole nation to know!" Toph coughed inconspicuously.

"He is meditating. Why? What is wrong?"

"There is someone going on, and I don't like it." Sokka said, glancing around. "I mean, we are all invited to a secret meeting without fore-warning or any requests from Aang or Zuko and they somehow knew where we all were, and who we were with. Like, what are they up too?"

"Maybe Zuko requested it?" Katara asked, knowing Aang was surprised to see her name on his letter. "But they did know that Aang and I were together, I had only just walked into room about five minutes before the message came."

"Same with Sokka and I. And Toph, Tao and Haru." Suki said.

"Something is not-"

"THERE YOU ARE!" Came a loud and furious voice.

In one fluid movement, Sokka drew his sword, Suki whipped out her fans, both Haru and Toph took their defensive stances, Katara pulled water from a nearby fountain and Tao pulled out a specially made slingshot… Geio stood, blank faced with his arms above his head. "Don-don't attack! Or shot!" he cried. "I have been waiting for you all in the events hall!"

"We have been summoned." Toph said. Nudging Haru, he held up the letter with the official Fire Nation seel. She slid her foot on the ground, sending out vibrations, there was a person, no two people, walking towards them, they turned the corner before quickly hiding behind the pillar. She recognized the heartbeat as Ty Lee and movements as Mai. She turned towards the pillar, but said nothing, there must be a reason they were hiding.

"Oh! I-I did not realise." Geio stuttered. "Well! We shall reschedule…" he quickly turned and disappeared at the end of the hall.

"Ty Lee. Mai. Come out." Toph said, loud enough to carry to her hiding spot. Ty Lee flipped out and almost over Haru, Mai showed herself.

Mai could not believe the earth brat was here, in her nation. She wanted to pin her against a wall, especially as if she stayed, it could mess with her aim at the approaching party. Ty Lee was thrilled to see everyone. "Sorry for hiding, but everyone and their turtle-duck knows that Geio is, like a crazy snitch. If we are seen here, rumours could be started and then we too would have to talk to him. Yeesh. So, were any of you summoned to the meeting?"

"Indeed we were. Both of you were too?" Haru said, holding Ty Lee's hand.

"God, this is going to be such a boring meeting." Mai groaned.

"Speaking of which, we had better be on our way." Sokka said calmly.

The sun was setting.


	6. Plotting with Tea

**You know the drill: R/R = Chapters**

**Enjoy, stay honest.**

The war chamber was hotter than the air outside. The long table had a mural of the Fire Nation painted in great detail. Sokka took in the war room, looking for escape routes, ambush points, cover, anything. He was not going to let his guard down until they were on Appa and heading away. It was just them, no generals, no admirals no Zuko. He looked at Toph, and whispered.

"What do you see?" he knew it sounded odd, as she was blind, but her senses are top notch, or what he usually says when he isn't tense, '_Toph-Notch_'.

"Everyone is just as nervous as you, there are now five guards outside the door, rather than just the two we passed. What is going on?"

"Maybe you are over thinking things?" Suki sighed softly.

"Nothing wrong with being careful." Sokka said.

They stood there in the hot, dark room, when suddenly the wide doors opened, two guards walked in followed by eight official looking personal. Two more guards followed them, then Iroh and Zuko walked in, his hair was pulled up and he wore his crown, his robes were dark red with gold embroidery and trimming, he looked incredible. Toph sighed lightly, _how much of an ask is it to have vision, sheesh_.

More guards came in carrying a large stone table, the extension was for the _witnesses_. When everyone was seated, Aang was led in and stood at the table, on the right side in the middle he glanced at Katara, then at Zuko. The generals, admirals and nobles were situated at one end, Zuko and the others were at the opposite end. Iroh was opposite Aang, they were acting as a _bridge_, linking political and personal views.

Zuko looked at his friends, sitting by his side. He had no idea that they would be here, he looked at Toph and his heart sunk, she was going to find out that he would be made to betroth someone, Iroh and Aang exchanged looks of confusion at all the added company.

Everyone bowed respectfully to the young Fire Lord, who greeted everyone, a few more formalities followed before everyone was seated. Iroh smiled and stood:

"Good evening everyone, and as my nephew said, thank-you for attending. Firstly would anybody appreciate some hot tea?" he smiled widely. Toph and Katara laughed quietly and raised their hands. After he had served tea he spoke conversationally toward Tao and Haru, "I do not recognise your faces, one of you must be Tao of the Eastern Air Temple, and the other must be Haru of the earth kingdom?"

"Sir, I am Tao from the _Northern _Air Temple, this is Haru of the earth kingdom. It is an honour to meet yo-"

One of the official men stood and spoke.

"I am Admiral Meei. This meeting has been called to discuss a priority of the Nation, not dilly-dally on unimportant matters." Tao pursed his lips and Haru raised an eyebrow. Iroh winked at them. The Admiral continued, "Fire Lord Zuko has now been in rule for three years, and is yet to take a wife and produce an heir. It is a major concern of your council and your nation, and seeing as you have been avoiding this responsibility by taking off with your friends, we decided-"

"Sorry to interrupt, Admiral Meei. But you are forgetting when my nephew assumed the throne, he was only seventeen, he had also been out of the Fire Nation three years before that. He is now twenty-one, he will find a lovely bride when he has-"

"There is no more time, he has put it off long enough!" Meei interrupted, bring attention back to him. "What if something was to happen to the Fire Lord, _spirits forbid_. The throne who be handed to the next family member, who is currently rotting in an asylum!"

Zuko swallowed at the mention of his sister, he saw Ty Lee and Mai exchange a look. Toph sensed his heart speed up and frowned, she wished she could punch him or something. It looks like he _will_ be getting married. Something stirred and sunk inside her- why should I feel this way? She thought, sipping from her tea, it isn't like we ever had much of a chance. What a time to finally develop actual feelings. Someone interrupted her private thoughts.

"I am General Loou. The seriousness of this matter cannot be understated. Fire Lord Zuko, as a result of your negligence the council is putting forward a vote, to give yourself a time limit on your matrimony. Or more, to pick a suitable woman to marry."

"A vote? On someone he will be spending the rest of his life with?" Iroh said, "On the conditions they will meet? It seems, ridiculous and unfair."

"Of course _you_ see it that way." One of the men spat.

Iroh sighed, looking at Zuko he asked, "Avatar Aang, may I hear your opinion?"

Aang looked at Zuko, than at the mural on the table. "Your feelings of worry are understandable, but your impatience is not. The fact that you rank the Fire Lord's marital status over rebel alliances is ridiculous. Love is important and cannot be rushed, regardless of the reason. I have full faith that your Fire Lord will find himself a bride in due time." He smiled at his friend.

Toph could almost kiss Aang. _Almost_. She smiled at the reaction from Katara if she suddenly leap over and kissed her lover. Suddenly it struck her like a tonne of earth, why couldn't she marry him?

"That is all well and good for you and your friends- but you are not Fire Nation, it is not your Nation's future in jeopardy. Maybe if there was a way where a bride could be selected?" This was Mai's father who spoke, everyone knew whom he was, so he had no need to introduce himself.

"Just line some poor selected girls up and I pick one to be stuck with me? I don't think so." Zuko said sternly.

Mai's father smiled, "Perhaps made in a social occasion? A Party?"

Mai smiled, this was her plan- trivial but practical, only noble and high-born girls to attend. Also to show up looking attractive, there is no doubt in her mind that Zuko will choose her out of familiarity.

"The attendants for the party should be those of high-born or noble status'. To ensure that poor families don't try to take the throne to gain power." It sounded petty, but of course all the men at the table would agree- as their own daughters are high-born.

"That could result in an uprising from the low socio-economic population-" Iroh started, before Meei interrupted again.

"Not if they are not aware," Meei smiled, looking at Mai's father, "They will just assume they met somewhere…"

A thought came to Iroh's mind. He looked at Toph, sitting next to Aang. She was noble by birth, no one specified that it was only Fire noble's and high-born. She was of marrying age, she was loyal and entertaining. Also, he looked closely at her, she had grown to be quite a woman, her hair still covered her face, but under it- her features were strong and beautiful, and she had a feminine figure, Zuko wouldn't find it hard to become attracted to her. As long as no one emphases that it is only Fire Nation nobles, she could be eligible. Knowing he could convince her over tea, he sighed, "Maybe that is not a terrible idea." Zuko shot him a betrayed look, and he wasn't the only one. The Generals and Admiral smiled.

…

Suki sat in bed, watching Sokka pace, still tense. Just because nothing happened in the meeting they were still probably being watched. No doubt that someone had already told half the palace that Sokka and Suki were alone! In a room! With a bed! _Oh the horror_.

Okay, that was harsh. But come on, he thought. He felt comforted by Suki. He turned to the beautiful Kyoshi Warrior, wearing only an oversized shirt, her knees were pulled up to her chin, and her slender arms wrapped tightly around them. He smiled at her, and sat next to her, kissing her head and inhaling her scent, calming him slightly. "I cannot wait to make you mine." He said into her hair.

"I am already." She kissed him longingly.

…

"Iroh must have a reason, he didn't exactly look convinced when he cast his vote." Katara said, tossing plump grapes at Haru's open mouth, he cried out when one hit him in the eye. Aang was eating a bowl of fruits, he too was shocked.

"Maaby he had uh reasum." His mouth was full, juice dripping down his chin, he hadn't eaten since the halfway point when he rested Appa and thought he was going to faint in the meeting. Katara smiled and touched his cheek quickly, before tossing another grape at Haru, who caught it and raised his arms victoriously, smiling as he bit down on the grape, spraying Tao and Ty Lee.

"Ew! Gross Haru!" they laughed in unison, then laughed at being in unison. Toph smiled at her friends, they had been hungry and ventured, unattended to the kitchen. Sokka and Suki had left a while ago and Zuko had not come at all.

"I might go check on Sparky. He could be killing someone right now." Toph stood, and say good-night to her friends. Mai scowled and watched her leave, the meeting had worked out wonderfully, the party would be on in two days, and the earth brat would be out of her hair. She spun a small knife in her hands and half-smiled.

"I'd want to kill someone." Katara sighed.

"I know the feeling." Mai sighed.

…

Votes were cast, the witnesses were not even spoken to, though there was plenty to say. Zuko had kept a straight face during the meeting, he did not want disrespect the people who are supposedly his most trusted, he tried to make his point multiple times but was ignored. But the idea of picking a bride in a night, it was ridiculous. Sure, if the _selected_ bride and Zuko did not see eye to eye before the wedding, the second in line would be the next bride. It was stupid, using women like that.

He walked into his room, slamming the large doors behind him. His cloak fell to the floor and he tossed his crown, it was a nightmare. Aang and Iroh tried to help, but no anvil- and then just like that, Iroh swapped sides. His emotions were about to erupt, everything made him angry. He needed to vent, he grabbed his duel swords and was about to attack his bed when there was a knock at the door.

"I want to be alone!" he yelled. But the knocking continued. "Damn it! I said, LEAVE ME ALO- Toph?!" she had entered, rolling her eyes at him.

"Really, Sparky? Don't you want to continue the fun from that great meeting?" her bare feet padded across the floor. "How are you feeling? About the decision?" she frowned.

"Terrible. I know it sounds cliché, but marrying someone I know and actually had feelings for would be ideal. But there is not much point arguing with anyone who may one day be the different between betrayal and loyalty." He was about to crack. He dropped his swords and turned towards her. "Why are you here?"

"I came to see if you were okay. I could feel you were about to lose it in the war room. Maybe we could go into the garden and destroy some stuff?" she could sense with anger.

He looked at her, still furious at everything. "I wish we were back at the Air Temple."

"Ha, same. Continue a few things from where we left off-" She paused and blushed. "I don't know what made me say that…" she laughed nervously. Get it together, Toph! She yelled at herself.

Toph leaned against the wall and _watched_ his movements, he was pacing but now he was doing something confusing. "Erm, anyway! Will we be invited to this party? It could be fun. Well, besides the deciding on someone to spend the rest of your lif-" his hand was over her mouth. He was breathing heavily, his body was pushed against hers. Zuko's heart was hammering against his chest, she could see his entire body with the vibrations she was receiving.

"If you want me to stop, say so. Okay?" he whispered. She was shocked, confused, excited. She didn't want to expect anything in case she misunderstood his intentions. She had only properly decided her feelings an hour ago. "Okay, Toph?" he asked again. She nodded. He removed his hands, but his lips quickly replaced them crushing hers urgently. He pinned her hands to the wall above her head, he was taking his anger out of her, but all she had to do was say to stop.

She kissed him back timidly, she didn't realise it was so easy to become attached to such contact. He held both her hands in one of his, she shivered as he ran his warm hand down her side. Zuko realised her hands and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her from the ground, and carried her towards the bed, her put her down and turned away, walking towards the door, Toph was silent and confused she moved to the middle of the bed.

Zuko opened the door and said to his guards, "Please, make sure we are _not_ disturbed." He slammed the door and Toph heard something hit the ground, before she could say anything, his shirtless body pushed down onto hers and his lips moved with hers. She was still unsure, she wasn't like this the last two times. She didn't know what to do with her hands, not wanting to do the wrong thing. He pulled back realizing what effect he was having on the young earth bender. "Remember, tell me if you want me to stop."

She smiled, feeling confidence crawling come back, "Did I say anything? Take me now or lose me forever."

He smiled and kissed her roughly, she tangled her hands in his shaggy hair and decided she could be rough too. She pushed off the soft bed, causing her to roll on top of him, she moved down his neck and bit him, he gasped. "Payback." She moaned into his warm skin. He pulled her face back to his lips and kissed her passionately. He groaned against her lips as she traced her hands over his stomach, he tilted his head back, exposing his neck, Toph could feel the heat on her lips as she leant down and bit him softly, she ran her tongue gently over the marks she left.

As she bit him, he started to smile, then laugh, his anger melted away, he forgot about everything, the meeting, his rapid approaching betrothal. Everything forgotten, except Toph.

Then, Toph realized something that she had never known.

Zuko, Fire Lord Zuko, is ticklish.

He was laughing, his arms wrapped around her, as she bit him and ran her hands over him. "I was trying to be dark and sexy, stop it! Toph!" he laughed. Zuko already knew she was ticklish, she pinned her hands in one of his and started to tickle her, nuzzling her neck and she shouted and thrashed, they were enjoying themselves, by themselves.

"Ah! Zuko!" she squealed. "Zuko! Stop it! AH!" she squealed louder.

…

Mai walked down the huge hall, throwing knives at the wall and pulling them out as she walked past. "I wonder if he is alone…" she thought throwing another knife and hitting a crack in the stone walls, her aim. Her plan was running smoothly so far. She had grown bored of her friends, and decided it was time to go home, two guards walked behind her, escorting her. She heard shouting as she rounded the corner, seeing Geio standing in front Zuko's door.

…

Geio paused outside the Fire Lord's door, the guards stood in front of him.  
"What do you mean I cannot go in?!" Geio stomped his foot, "I have important business!"

"Fire Lord Zuko does not want to be disturbed." One of the guards said sternly. "Lady Mai! How are you this evening?" they bowed respectfully to Mai as she approached.

"You should let Fire Lord Zuko get some sleep, he had a dissapo-" Mai started but something interrupted her.

"_Ah! Zuko! Zuko! Stop it! AH!" _they could hear it that they were squeals of laughter.

They all paused and looked at the door, the guards blushed and looked at each other, smiling with pursed lips.


	7. Accusation

**If you don't know the drill by now. I worry for you.**

**R/R = Chapters.**

**Stay honest.**

Zuko stirred, he could hear her before he opened his eyes. She was breathing softy, he smiled and peeked through his long eyelashes. Her black hair was surprisingly neat, she was facing away from him, she sighed and rolled over as he leaned and kissed her cheek. He pulled back and blinked suddenly. Mai touched her cheek, "What was that for?"

Shock crossed Zuko's features, he stared at her, "Mai? What are you doing here?"

"Don't be draft, Zuko. I am your wife. We sleep together, gees."

Zuko blinked at her.

"Wher-where is Toph?"

She continued with a sly smile, "You could never be with that earth brat, you have a duty to your nation. _Our_ nation."

He stared at her. Horror and anger crawling over his features, "Where is she?!" he yelled, "Tell me now!" he stood up and pulled on his robe, his whole body became hot.

"She was _disposed _of. D'uh, Zuko." Mai smiled and rolled back over, falling to sleep.

Zuko took a step away from the bed. He heard a splash and felt liquid on his foot, he looked down and saw vivid red seeping into his toes, he spun around and saw Toph's small body, she was not the sixteen year old he knew now, but the twelve year old he had known then. She lay peacefully on her back, a knife buried deep in her forehead, throat slit for good measure.

"Toph!" as he shouted her name, Toph's head turned and her pale orbs opened and stared at Zuko, a tear of blood ran down her face.

…

"GAH!" Zuko shouted, shooting upright in his bed. Toph's eyes flew open and she sat up and shot her hands out defensively, connecting with Zuko's cheekbone. "Ah! Fuck, Toph!"

"Damn it, Zuko!" she shouted, "You gave me a fucking heart attack!"

"You just gave me a black eye!"

"You screamed! I thought you were being attacked!"

"I just was! And I did not _scream_!" his hand cupping his good eye, now rapidly swelling, _Agni_, she had some strength behind her.

"Fire Lord Zuko! Are you okay?" The guards barged through the door, "We heard a scream!"

"I DID NOT _SCREAM_!" Zuko shouted, "I am fine! Leave us!" the guards bowed and left the room. Zuko walked towards the bathroom and looked in the mirror, his good eye was swelling and bright red, if he almost closed his eyes, it looked like he had two scars. "You gave me a swollen eye!"

"Well, I'm not apologizing. You woke me with a _scream_. What did you expect?!" she growled and hid under the covers, they had fallen asleep together accidentally, and she had always been told how hilarious she looked after sleeping in a bed. "Is it daylight yet?"

Zuko sighed and walked towards the huge curtains, he lightly pulled one back and let faint light filter into his room, "It is about an hour to sunrise," he took a deep breath, calming himself. He looked over and the lump where she was hiding, "do me a favour, pull the covers off yourself."

"Why?"

"Come on, Toph." He half-smiled, wanting to see her face. His eye throbbed. She pulled the covers back and looked towards him. Her hair was a mess, she yawned and stretched and then continued to look sightlessly around the room, he watched her mint coloured iris' move around. "You are quite beautiful, Toph." She blushed, enhancing the contrast of her black hair and flawless skin.

"Yeah, yeah! Flattery won't get an apology, come on! Let's go awake mother-gooselion." She crawled towards the edge of the bed.

"Toph! Stop!" but it was too late, she had miscalculated and fallen off the high bed, and straight onto her face, then crashing onto her shoulder. She hit the solid floor with an "_OOF!_" and then a shower of swearing. The guards rushed back in, only to be sent running when the fury of Toph turned towards them.

…

The sun wasn't up, Aang and Katara were a tangle of arms and legs, he kissed down her long neck. Aang had snuck to her room after midnight to curl up with her, the morning was approaching and he was going to sneak back to his own room, until Katara woke up and started to kiss him. He groaned against her neck and he pushed into her, again and again. She cried out in pleasure and ached her back, giving more access to him.

As Katara gave in, she moaned quietly and dug her nails into his shoulders. He groaned, he was about to finish. He moaned her name and collapsed onto her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. "When we return to the South Pole, you should sleep over every night." She sighed when they had caught their breath. Aang smiled and kissed her nose. He rolled onto his side and faced her. He sighed.

"I feel pretty bad. I mean, firstly, Fire Nation culture is against this, I never learnt anything about this with the monks- so I don't know what my culture says… And the water tribe?"

"The water tribe believed that sex before betrothal, is _not _the end of the world. But a personal preference. I guess it depends how you were raised." Katara smiled gently, tracing his arrows.

There was a knock at the door, Katara sat up and looked at Aang, who had already hid quickly under the covers. Katara reached for her robe and wrapped it around her, she smoothed her long hair and walked to the door. She glanced back and saw Aang's eye under the blanket, watching her.

She opened the door and peeked out, "Oh my! What on earth happened to you two?! Come in, quickly." Toph walked in holding her nose, stopping the blood flow that had already dripped down her shirt. Zuko's eye was swollen shut on one side and he had blood on his hand from where he tried to help Toph stop the bleeding, before she punched him in the jaw. As soon as Toph entered the room, she knew Aang was here, she could hear him breathing.

Katara sat Toph in a chair and pulled out her healing water, she made a block of ice for Zuko's eye. "I fell out of the damn bed, I couldn't see a thing. Lucky, my face broke my fall." She had one hand cupping her nose, and the other was massaging her shoulder.

"And what about Zuko?" Katara asked as she engulfed Toph's nose in water, bending it to encase her bleeding and possibly broken nose.

"When I woke up, I frightened Toph, she punched me out of fear…" Zuko said, holding the block of ice to his eye. Katara stared at him.

Her voice came out nasally, "_Fear_?! You _screamed_! I thought you were being attacked! So I blindly defended you!"

"You were sleeping together?" Aang smiled, waiting for the right moment to reveal his presence. Then he got a proper look at them, "Silly Fire Lord! Did you try to wake Toph up before midday?" Aang laughed.

Zuko jumped at the sight of Aang and stopped what he was about to retort. Toph rolled her eyes.

"Watch yourself, Twinkle Toes." Toph growled

…

Katara was able to take the swelling out of Zuko's eye, but not the redness. His Jaw was in better condition as Toph only nicked it. Toph's nose was healed, but still red, and her shoulder was back in business, it was sunrise by the time the healing was over. Aang sneakily pulled on some pants and jumped out of bed. Grabbing his glider, he started to head for the kitchen with Zuko, leaving the girls in Katara's room. Katara tried once more to take the redness from Toph's nose.

"So, you and the Fire Lord, eh?" Katara asked smiling widely.

"Not for much longer," she sighed, no use hiding it from Sweetness. "It wasn't rough sex by the way, he did wake me with a start." She smiled at Katara.

"Oh, I am _sure_." She laughed mockingly. They were silent for a while, Toph was pouting, partly because of her nose and partly because she wanted someone to vent to. "What is wrong, Toph?" Katara asked, Toph half-smiled, as if Katara had read her mind.

"Do you think that she will be pretty? His bride? I shouldn't care. But I kind of do."

"This really isn't like you, Toph. You know that you are beautiful, we all make sure you know. And anyway, Zuko isn't shallow." Katara smiled, putting her water back in her pouch. "Come on, let's go and stuff our faces." Toph punched Katara lightly in the arm and smiled. They walked towards the kitchen.

She would have to find _another_ way to vent.

…

Sokka was laughing about something he had said to Zuko about his _good_ eye. Suki was smiling widely at Zuko's retort. Momo was rushing around the kitchen, being chased by at least five chiefs and kitchen hands, his small arms overflowing with rare fruits that were to be prepared for the party the following evening. As soon as Toph came into view, Sokka cracked up again.

"What happened to you?! Is it really that hard to sleep here?" he snorted, shoving a portion of eggs and meat into his mouth.

"Geez, Toph! If you look like that, I can't wait to see the other guy!" Tao smiled.

"He is right there." She pointed at Zuko. There was silence for a second before everyone started laughing.

They were trying to figure out who had it worse, when Geio came in through the door. He had a smug look and a scroll. Sokka lost his good mood and almost growled at the plump fire nation arse. He saw Toph and his eyes lit up.

"Miss Toph Bei Fong, you have been summoned. Your presence is requested immediately, you may bring one accompanying party." He handed her the note, and she rolled her eyes. Sokka came around the table and took it from her. He looked up to ask Geio a question, but he was gone.

"_Toph Bei Fong of the Bei Fong Household,_

_You are hereby summoned by the council on _

_charges of-_" Sokka stopped, he stared down at Toph. "Erm, I think we should read this privately…"

"Just read it!" Toph grumbled, taking a sip of tea.

Sokka sighed, "_Charges of adultery- _Aw! Yuck! Thanks, Toph!" Toph had spat her tea all over Sokka, she wasn't the only one. Zuko had almost choked on his fruit, Haru had to slap his back.

"Of _what_?!" she screeched.

"_You may bring one accompanying party to _

_witness__. __Only to speak when spoken at__._

_Sighed, Admiral Meei and General Loou._" Sokka finished. Passing the scroll to Katara and Aang, they read with a shocked expression.

"What is adultery?" Tao asked, not understanding the big deal.

"Kind of like, sex before marriage? Or having an affair? Maybe lust?" Ty Lee said, not sure with which definition to go with, "At least that's what I think-"

"But I have never had sex!" Toph cried out, not caring who heard.

"They seem to think otherwise, Toph." Haru came around the table and placed a hand on her shoulder, he and Toph were as close as siblings, he hated to see her distressed.

"Zuko, does the Fire nation pass charges on adultery? Not that this is the case. There is obviously a misunderstanding." Suki said with conviction.

"… I don't know. I have never heard of a punishment or charge for adultery. But, I am not married, and neither is she? How can they charge for _that_?" He mumbled, unsure of what to do. Immediately he summoned a servant, "Find Iroh." The servant nodded at the command and disappeared.

"Sokka, you're coming with me." Toph snarled, snatching the scroll from Aang and marching towards the door. Sokka shot a look at Suki, than towards Zuko. He stood and followed Toph, grabbing his sword and boomerang on the way out.

"Wait! Toph, shouldn't I go with you?" Zuko asked, walking swiftly after them, grabbing her wrist. She yanked it out of his grasp and turned to him.

"You have done enough." She turned and walked down the hall towards the council chambers.

…

"Toph, come on. Toph! Wait a sec." Sokka was trying to calm her down, she had tears in her eyes and she was a mess from sleeping in her current clothes. "Toph!" he grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop.

"What?!" she yelled, pulling her arm back. Her tears spilled over, she was embarrassed and ashamed, the greatest earth bender in the world, accused of being an adulterer, they all probably assumed she was a _whore_. Sokka pulled her in for a hug, he held her tight as she cried. "I hate people." She muttered.

"I think we should neaten you up before you go in there and slaughter them, or at least we make sure you have a second set of clothes to hide the evidence of mass murder." He smiled and kissed her head. It was a comforting gesture. Sokka had learnt on the night they had been drunk that Toph had once had feelings for him. He was flattered of course, but glad they had passed, he didn't want to be hurting anyone.

"Mm-kay." Toph mumbled, wiping her eyes, she felt someone approaching, but didn't change her stance. Iroh trotted around the corner.

"Lady Toph, I came to find you as soon as the hawk went out about the meeting. Are you okay?" he asked, he was unaware that Zuko was searching for him. Before she could answer, he chuckled "let's go and get some tea and new clothes. They can wait."

…

Iroh sat with Sokka and Toph, they had some tea, Toph told him everything, not in great detail. But that they had been together in a room, one thing lead to another and there was a tickling match. After that they had talked not realizing how tired they were. Zuko slept above the covers, Toph below.

Iroh nodded thoughtfully on the information, he figured that this was the truth. He called two female servants and asked them to find Toph some clean clothes. They returned not five minutes later and escorted her into another room. The servants helped Toph into clean, fresh clothing, and Sokka was alone with Iroh.

He decided to open up to him. "There is something going on here, isn't there." Sokka asked, watching Iroh's reaction.

Iroh sighed, he was expecting this. He put his tea cup on the table and stood, gesturing for Sokka to follow.

"You can trust me, warrior of the _Southern Water Tribe_… I can tell who you are, as you are always on alert, if I was in Lady Toph's position, I would have chosen you too. The Fire Nation is not handling suddenly being no greater than the other four nations. Sokka, you are wise to be cautious, I do not know anything, if I did, I would have warned yourself and my nephew as soon as it took place."

He took a deep breath and watched the workers preparing the decorations for the party. Sokka spoke, "Does he really have to pick a wife tomorrow? Without courting or even knowing her?"

"Not necessarily. You see, I have a plan, well, it is an idea now, but hopefully, a plan soon." Iroh turned and walked back to the table, sipping from his tea. Sokka raised his eyebrow, but Iroh simply put a finger to his lips. "I will not speak of this plan, until the second party is alerted and then agrees to the consequences if the plan succeeds… Ah! Lady Toph, you look much better."

"Thanks Iroh." She half-smiled in his direction. "When do we have to go?"

"Now I am afraid, but do not fret, I will not leave your side during the whole meeting." Iroh huffed, standing and downing his tea.

"Neither will I." Sokka smiled.

"Well, let's get this over with." She punched her hand into her open palm menacingly.

Iroh smiled, "maybe it is Zuko who should be alerted to the possible consequences of marrying this fine creature."


	8. Irrational Overreation

**R/R = Chapters**

**Stay honest, enjoy**

"Fire Lord, Zuko, we cannot find him. He must have been called to the meeting before we arrived." The servant said nervously, glancing around the room of irritated people. "We are sorry, we can try again?"

"You are excused, he must be in the meeting." Zuko sighed. The servants bowed and left.

They all stood in the Fire Lord's office. Aang and Katara were reading through a few books on laws, brushing up on knowledge and trying to find charges and/or punishment for _adultery_. Neither could find any information on the topic, Aang slammed his book shut and lay his head on the table. Katara sighed and took a long sip from her wine glass, she brushed her long fingers across his cheek.

Suki sat with Zuko, rubbing his back, she was worried about Sokka, knowing that all he needed was a single excuse and he might accidentally spark the next Hundred Year War. She was searching for a way to comfort Zuko verbally, but so far, nothing.

Haru was sitting cross legged with Ty Lee, she was explaining the art and science of _Chi Blocking_, though Haru was only part listening, his head snapped up every time the door opened. He scoffed at himself, he was becoming just as paranoid as Sokka. He tried to focus on Ty Lee, but just kept wondering who else was listening.

Tao was playing Pai Sho, against Momo, well, more tossing tiles at the lemur and watching him leap for them. He dropped the rail keeping him firmly in the chair and rolled onto the floor, before sliding back and pulling a small tool box out from under the chair, he started to tinker.

"Gah, I bought this on her. She must hate me. I should have stuck to the culture while we were here." Zuko groaned, holding his head in his hands. "She will hate me forever."

"Yeah, probably, but you will just have to _re_-win her over." Tao chirped, removing a bolt and tossing it to Momo. Before taking it back and readjusting for it in a new position.

Zuko sighed, "This isn't like burning her feet, or slicing her hand, she can get back at me physically for that. This causes shame and a permanent _emotional_ mark on the individual, like a _scar. _A _public_ scar, for everyone to mock and gawk at..." His fingers ghosted along his own scar.

Katara had finally found a page on relationships, she assumed there would be adultery on it somewhere, she turned the page and suddenly paused, almost dropping her drink. "Oh, er, Zuko, you might want to read this."

"What is it?" four people asked in unison. Tao was help back into his chair by Haru, as he walked towards Katara. Aang raised his head and read from her side, his eyes widened. "Read it out!" Ty Lee grumbled wanting to know what was going on.

"… _To ensure purity and cleanliness, the future bride must prove their virtue, by way of physical examination or verbal confirmation of a trusted individual. Accusations of adultery are also cause for such a test. If the examiner decrees that the woman is unclean, she is marked as an __**adulterer**__ and cannot wed any royal or high-born. _A physical examination? How would they exami- oh… Uh oh." Aang realised after he had read.

Zuko turned bright red, Suki shot him a look, at that moment they both remembered the night at the air-temple, the _blood_, what if it compromised the… Zuko grabbed his crown and ran for the door not finishing his train of thought. Suki stood and grabbed her fans. "We had better go, he may need back-up." They all took off down the hall after Zuko. Toph will be furious.

…

Sokka's eyes slowly opened. His head throbbed worse than anything he had ever felt, and his arms felt _strange, _non-existent_._ It was all a blur, he had walked into the war chamber, flanking Toph, Iroh was on her other side. The doors had slammed behind them and suddenly a few quick jabs and he fell, he watched Toph and Iroh fall too. Toph's eyes met his, before something heavy was brought down on his skull. The last thing he heard was Toph scream his name.

He opened his eyes, at first his vision was unfocused, and he could hear the voices of men. As his eyes adjusted, he saw a huge stone table, on the table was Toph, her arms and legs bolted with thick straps covering her hands and wrists, ankles and feet. A group of men surrounded her. Sokka tried to stand, but he couldn't feel his legs, he looked up and saw his arms chained to the wall behind him, he couldn't move his hands, even wiggle his fingers.

He looked around himself, no Iroh. He turned and looked at Toph, his torso could move, he thrust it forward, desperately trying to command his body to be near her. His chains jingled, alerting the men to his state of consciousness. "Ah! The _warrior_ awakens." One sneered. He moved away from the table, giving Sokka a full view of Toph, she had a cloth covering her body, from her breasts to her knees, her clothes were piled beside the stone table. Sokka's eyes widen.

"_Toph_?! TOPH!" Sokka yelled, tossing his body around, his arms kept him strapped to the wall. "TOPH! Wake up! _Toph_?!"

…

"If Sokka doesn't shut his damn mouth, I will kill him." Toph thought with a growl. She tried to roll over, something was stopping her. If Haru had buried her under a rock again, he was going to cop it. Sokka was getting louder, he sounded like something was wrong.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Sokka screamed, his voice sounded like someone was cutting him open. Something was definitely wrong. Toph's eyes flew open, she gazed into nothing, this was usual. But where was her extra vision, her vibration signals, anything?

"_Wait, where are my feet_?" She thought frantically. See was completely blind, last time she was like this, Ty Lee had chi blocked her. Her final memory came back, feeling Sokka's body collapse, followed by Iroh's, then she lost the use of her arms, she was knocked to the ground by a great force, and then _saw _Sokka's face as something slammed it into the ground. "_Sokka_!" she had screamed, his heart fluttered but continued to beat. Then she lost consciousness.

"Sokka?!" she yelled, fear stinking in from the memory. "Sokka! Where are you?!"

"Toph!" he replied, relief flooded him. She was awake, she was okay, until she spoke again.

"_I can't see, Sokka_!" she cried, almost a scream.

She heard him struggling with the jingle of chains. "I can't get to you! Try and move!"

"What is happening?!" She moved her torso, wriggling and writhing around, two sets of hands pinned her down, "Sok-" someone clamped a hand over her mouth.

"What are you doing to her?! Stop it!" Sokka yelled, there was someone walking towards him, with no warning, the man smashed a length of wood into the side of Sokka face. Toph heard the horrible sound and tried to scream for help.

"There is really no need to react this way, it is a simple test to check if you have put the throne in jeopardy." A man shrugged, perversely tracing his finger along Toph's waist. Toph writhed away from his touch, it burned her skin through the cloth, it was then she realised she was naked. Only Sokka saw that he was actually burning her. "The chi blocking was necessary, otherwise you would not have complied, and reacted irrationally. Better safe than sorry."

Sokka's mouth filled with blood, he could taste it, he spat it out and yelled, "_Irrationally_?! You have her strapped to a table! Let her go! When Zuko gets here-" the man struck him again.

"Fire Lord Zuko will see this as a necessary, especially considering we are his advisers, we advise what is best. If the test concludes what we all suspect, she will be tossed out. As soon as the healers get here, they will examine her, until then…" he traced his finger along Toph's lip. In defence, she bit him, hard. He stumbled back yelling and cupping his bleeding finger, without thinking he brought his hand down and across her cheek, his ring leaving a deep slice on her flawless skin. She gasped and tried to move, but couldn't. The man stopped yelling and chuckled, "For someone in your position that is not wise."

…

Zuko barged into the doors, they swung wide open, and it was empty. "_WHERE ARE THEY_?!"

"Maybe the meeting is over?" Katara said, her eyes sweeping the room briefly. "Surely if it was bad, you would have been called…"

"Iroh?" Tao yelled, he came in last and saw a foot out from behind a pillar, everyone else had missed it. Katara and Tao went to him, she rolled him onto his back and pulled out her spirit water.

"N-no. Go find Lady Toph and Sokka. They need you. We were ambushed, hurt." He gestured at Aang, "Use your power, I don't know where they are, or what they are doing."

Aang almost snarled, slowly his arrows lit up, his eyes met with Zuko's as the begun to glow, in one movement he slammed his hands on the ground, feeling the vibrations in the earth. He could see the entire palace lay-out, every stone wall, floor and pillar, the whole garden, the dungeons, the cellar, the- there they were, he saw as Sokka's head was slammed into the wall, leaving an impression of his face that only lasted a second. His head snapped up and he whipped out his glider and took off out of the hall.

"Come help us!" Tao yelled at some passing servants, "Go!" he turned to the others. They ran after Aang.

…

Aang left the Avatar state as he approached the large metal doors, the others stopped and started, how would they get in? Haru and Aang were about to start digging when, they heard Sokka.

"_Stop it! Leave her alone! Toph! Toph?! I am coming!_"

Haru didn't even think as he busted a huge portion of rock from the roof and brought it crushing down on the door. He charged through and sent a wave of earth that knocked three of the men away from the table, he turned and shot a pillar of earth at the man bludgeoning Sokka, it slammed the man into the wall, killing him. Katara pinned some men trying to hide to the wall with ice. Aang windwhipped some unconscious. Zuko charged in, his hands alight and his eyes furious, he attacked the man standing nearest Toph.

"Zuko!" Toph screamed, she recognized his heartbeat, even when it was distorted by anger.

"Stop! Fire Lord Zuko! Mercy! We have families! This is an overreaction!" One of them yelled, it was the man Toph bit.

Zuko's anger had not deceased. He snarled at the men. "You _will_ come to the war room tonight at sundown, _all of you_! If anyone here does not show, you will wish you had never existed. Guards! Arrest _all_ these _**men**_!" He spat the last word. Guards had followed the group after Tao had yelled that the Fire Lord was in danger. One of the iced men threw a key to the ground, Suki grabbed it and untied Sokka's limp body. Katara was closest to Toph and went to heal her cut.

"No! Sokka! Help Sokka!" Toph yelled, as Haru tore the restraints from the stone and removed them. Toph's body was also limp. Zuko took off his robe and wrapped it around her as he lifted her from the table, ensuring she was fully covered. He left the room and headed upstairs, Haru and Suki were helping Sokka, while Katara tried to heal him. Sokka sighed and opened his mouth.

"All this before lunch, fuck." Before he fell unconscious.

…

"Lady Toph, may I come in?" Iroh stood at the door, a cup of tea in each hand. It had been a few hours, and Katara had healed Toph quickly, before returning to her injured brother. Ty Lee had come in and dialogised that this was _not_ the method of chi blocking she used, someone with more power and knowledge then herself attacked them. Toph had requested to be left alone.

"Iroh, I kind of don't want people around-" She said, but heard him proceed anyway, she sighed. She still didn't have much feeling in her feet or hands, she was still completely blind. "What do you want, Iroh? You know I can't have tea, I can barely move my hands."

"Both are for me, Lady Toph." Iroh grinned. Toph smiled half-heartedly, but then narrowed her eyes, though she couldn't see, she could stun a man with that gaze, Iroh thought.

"Lady Toph, I want to extend my apology to not keeping my promise, I was supposed to stay with you. If I had any idea what was about to happen… They didn't _do_ anything to you, did they?" he was worried, a few of those men often ogled after the young maids, and he had noticed their perverted nature.

"No, Iroh. I am fine." She said. Her burn mark from the man she bit still hurt, like it was fresh. She hadn't told Katara about it, she wanted Sokka to be taken care of.

"I am glad to hear, those men are not like all Fire Nation men, and they are barely men themselves." He sighed and sipped his tea again, "But now to the point. I am here to ask something of you, only to consider, then we can act on your decision. I am afraid you do not have much time to decide." Toph was annoyed, but her curiosity outweighed her annoyance. She gestured with her head for Iroh to sit and continue. "Now, once I begin, I need you to allow me to get the whole plan out, no interruptions, do we have an agreement?" She could hear the smile in his voice.

"You have my word, I will not interrupt. Spit it out." She smiled and leaned back in her bed, feeling the sun on her cheek, it must be nearing the afternoon, she intended on being at the meeting.

"The party for Fire Lord Zuko to select a bride is tomorrow-"

"Iroh, I _really_ don't want to hea-"

"No interruptions! Remember?" he smiled, she sighed and rolled her sightless eyes. He continued, sipping from his tea, "As I was about to say, the party for Fire Lord Zuko to select a bride is tomorrow evening. Noble ladies and high-born are _all_ invited, and _all_ eligible to be selected. The meeting we attended on our first night was documented in detail, each of the council members have received a copy, all sighed by everyone of influence present. Lady Toph, I want _you_, to attend the party as an eligible potential _bride_." He finished with a smile and sipped from his tea.

Toph was silent for a long time, sightlessly staring wide eyed and open mouthed at Iroh. "B-but-but I am not. I, er. _What_?" she shook her head, "I am not Fire Nation…" she whispered.

"The council never said, _exclusively_ Fire Nation. As I said, it is for you to consider. If you will not do it for his love and for your happiness, at least consider it for an old man's entertainment." He chuckled. He stood and placed a hand on her shoulder, it took her by surprise. She flinched away before relaxing. "Please consider." He walked away from her leaving her to bask in her thoughts.

…

Zuko walked towards the room that Toph was resting in. He knocked on the door, and then entered slowly.

"Iroh! You haven't exactly given me much of a chan-"

"It's me." Zuko interrupted. "Can I come in?" his heart sank as Toph turned her face away from him. That wasn't a no, he thought. Walked towards her and sat on the chair next to her bed. She turned her head back towards him when she heard him move the chair.

He stared at her, the warm sun behind her made her hair shine, even when it was slightly messed up, it lit up her cheeks in the most alluring way and made her eyes shine. Zuko was stunned by the beauty of her, even at a time like this.

It was a while before he spoke. "Toph? Toph, I am so sorry." He touched her hand, she turned and stared at him.

"I thought you were never going to come, they were beating Sokka and I couldn't do anything to help."

"Justice will be served, each will get-"

"Zuko," she said, tears welling up in her eyes, "I thought you weren't coming at all."

Zuko watched her as she lowered her head and tears fell onto her shirt. He was frozen, not knowing what to say. He stood and moved to the side of her bed, sitting with her, he wrapped his arms around her, she leaned into his chest. They stayed like that for a long time. Zuko was drowning in his guilt, he had let her down, and he had made her give up on him. It was one of the worst feelings ever. It reminded him of when he was convinced he had no honour at all.

The meeting was approaching, he would make sure they all got what they deserved.

"Forgive me." He whispered, burying his face in her hair.


	9. Scarred

**Dedicating the fight scenes to** _**Sycocritic**_**. I hope they live up to your expectations.**

**R/R = More chapters.**

**Come on guys, show me the love.**

Zuko's eyes narrowed as the men he found surrounding Toph and Sokka were lined up in front of the throne. His friends sat at the long table in the centre of the room, the innocent men of the council sat with his friends, all equally horrified at what unravelled earlier in the day without their knowledge. Each council member was briefly questioned, Toph was nearby and read their reactions to tell if they were lying or not.

One of the men stepped forward, a bandage wrapped tightly around his finger, "Fire Lord Zuko, may I-"

"_I think it is wise for you to speak only when spoken at_." Toph interrupted, Zuko had asked Toph and Sokka to sit by his side and help pass judgement, as they are the victims. Zuko smirked at her remark, but quickly adjusted his features, he needed to try to be patient and listen to both sides. That didn't stop Sokka from snorting and the others from laughing quietly.

"How about you keep your mouth sh-" the man started. Forgetting the situation.

"You dare speak like that to the woman you wronged!" Zuko yelled. The man looked as though his heart had fallen out of his chest. Zuko's eyes flitted to Iroh, who pursed his lips. The outburst was not necessary, _justified_, but not necessary. "You will treat Lady Toph Bei Fong with the utmost respect, as well as Sokka from the Southern Water tribe and every one of my company." He said calmly, managing to chill the man to the bone. Zuko nodded at Iroh, who stood and cleared his throat.

"Each man will have the right to defend themselves and their actions, however the ultimate decision will be made by the Fire Lord on your joined fate."

…

"How were we suppose to know that she would have complied without violence?! We were protecting ourselves!" a man urgently replied.

"Did you think to ask?" Toph growled. She had admitted to Zuko in private that if it was necessary for her to prove her virtue, she would have, but only to a healer and with someone she knew present to accompany her.

"We assumed-"

"You assumed wrong." Haru cut in. "And why did you allow her to bring an accompanying party, if you were just going to beat one of them half to death and hide the other?"

"Again, we assumed that you would not co-operate. And we didn't know that Iroh had gotten summoned, we didn't realize it was him." Another man mumbled. This had been going on for a while, everything the councilmen said made out their actions were justified, that Toph was sure to have hurt them all.

"What made you think that Toph was an adulterer?" Aang asked, he had kept quiet for most, but he suddenly thought about what they could have seen to make such a bold accusation.

One of the men turned and looked down on the Avatar, he snarled. "A _source_. They heard screaming coming from the Fire Lord's chamber, his name was amongst those screams, the voice was Toph Bei Fong."

Zuko rolled his eyes, Toph looked up at him. "You didn't even consider that we were enjoying each other's company, without being sexual?" Toph said with a growl. It wasn't a complete lie, they were being sexual, but they did not have sex, meaning their accusation was still unjust.

Zuko groaned internally. These men were supposed to be some of the most intelligent in the world! To lead him into making decisions that are right for his nation. He looked at Haru and then to Sokka, who was also tearing the guilty men to shreds.

Zuko had heard enough, and came to a decision.

The whole chamber grew silent as he stood, "I have decided on your fates. You are all dismissed from your duties, your actions have demonstrated that you are unable or unwilling to adjust to the new era of peace and love and that how you handled the situation was unjust and disgraceful. All of your positions will be filled by people who have a similar vision to my own and the Avatar's- of peace and honour. You will never be able to show yourselves at this palace or any other place of royalty or nobility. Your families will not be punished, but will share your new life of less fortune." He looked at Toph, hoping this was enough, he couldn't just kill off people, though he wanted too.

"You are banishing us?! But our families!" one yelled, the others were either still adjusting to the news or shouting apologies. "What about our eligible daughters?! They have been invited to the celebration tomorrow! Will they miss out on the chance-"

"I did not say you will be banished, though I would say it would be fair-" Zuko begun, before Iroh interrupted.

"Your families will not be punished for your decisions. You will all just have to adjust to the more humble way of life that accompanies a small pay." Iroh said, he was proud of his nephew's decision of trying to be fair but harsh. But it was obvious that all Zuko wanted to do more than anything to brutally murder a few of them, especially the un-repentant ones.

"I refuse to accept your decision! I have worked hard to get here! I challenge you, Fire Lord Zuko, to an Agni Kai! If I lose, I will go." It was the man that Toph bit.

"General Miko that is not a wise move-" one of the men whispered.

"I acc-" Zuko started but Toph put her hand on his arm, capturing his attention, she looked towards him and smiled. Zuko knew what she wanted, and he knew that the only way she would start to forgive him was if Toph got her own way. "I decline your offer, but if it is a duel you want… You will have a challenge on your hands if you accept."

"Who will I be duelling?" Miko said, confident he could beat anyone.

"You may want to kiss your palace job good-bye." Toph grinned, waving her hand.

…

Traditionally, Agni Kai takes place at sunset, but as this was technically not an Agni Kai, they would duel at midnight. Once the men realised you could _win_ back their position three more wanted to try. The generals challenged Toph to take them all on at once, but Zuko flatly said it would not happen. So, Toph agreed two at a time may be entertaining enough to keep her awake, Zuko's face went bright red, she was getting back at him, he was sure of it. Touches lit up the courtyard, making it look like daylight.

Zuko was beginning to regret his decision more and more as he saw General Miko practicing in the yard. He was good, like, _really_ good. He turned to look at Toph, sitting on the ground eating with the others. She didn't even look phased that she could end up in real trouble

"Shouldn't you be, you know, preparing?" Zuko said nervously.

"I have my bending back, and that makes me very prepared." She smiled, grabbing another berry from the numerous plates.

"But, you don't even know-"

"His fighting style is faltering on his right side. I would guess that it is either old age or something happened when he was young. I take out his left side, he is mine." She managed to sound menacing but looking sweet while saying it.

"But now there are four men you have to fight!" Zuko shouted at her.

"You needed to see her as the Blind Bandit, she took on, like, eight fully grown men!" Aang laughed, recalling how he found his earthbending teacher.

"But that was earthbending!" Zuko snapped, "Fire is an air attack, basically. She can't see that."

"I can handle anything." She smiled coolly, eating more berries.

"Yeah, lighten up Zuko. Toph's got this." Tao smiled, pushing Toph lightly in the arm.

"And if she doesn't? Fire him anyway, you are the Fire Lord." Sokka smiled, Katara was working on his head, she wasn't confident that she had healed his internal injuries, "Katara, I feel fine, a slight headache, but nothing serious."

"It has lasted hours. That, Sokka, _is _serious." Katara sighed. Suki was rubbing his hand, she was worried too. He sighed, laying his head on the ground, Katara engulfing his entire face in water briefly, before moving the concentration of water to where he said the headache was.

Zuko turned back and watched the generals all join in the training, _she had better win_.

…

The gong rang, echoing in the courtyard. Toph stood, motionless, waiting for her challengers to strike. It didn't take long, the first general leaped forward, executing a perfect flip, bring a line of fire down towards Toph, she predicted that fire would be coming as soon as the gong rang, she slammed her fists together, creating a stone covering, blocking the flames, she shot her hand out, causing one half of the cover to fly towards the firebender, he was almost hit. The other half flew towards the second bender, yet to move.

The second bender ran and dived towards Toph, trying to knock her over, she pulled a wall of earth up just as he was about to strike her, this knocked the bender back and gave him a bleeding nose. He cursed, Toph smiled. She sent an avalanche of earth at the first bender to distract him, it worked, she shot a pillar out of the ground that sent the second bender flying out of the pre-determined rink.

_One down_, she smiled to herself. She felt the first and now only bender step towards her, having escaped the avalanche. She spun her body around, with her leg out straight, causing a huge rock to fly towards the remaining bender. He almost whimpered as she turned towards him, he ducked the rock, and shot multiple bursts of flames towards her. She brought hunks of earth up to block the individual flames, she miscalculated and a ball of flame hit her in the shoulder. She fell down surprised, the burn was painful, she continued shooting multiple rocks at the bender and sensing where he was, making him stumble. She leapt back onto her feet.

On the sidelines, Zuko almost dived onto the field, Iroh grabbed his arm. He groaned and sat back down with Aang and Suki, he forgot that she didn't need help. She watched as the young earthbender shot large pieces of earth, and performed perfectly timed moves that rendered the remaining bender off balanced and inaccurate counter attacks. "She is incredible." He mumbled as she knocked the bender on his arse and then catapulted him from the rink. She raised her hands victoriously, turning and beaming towards her friends.

"Wooh! Go Toph! You teach those jerks a lesson!" Haru laughed.

"What is going on?" came a voice no one had heard in a few days.

"Hey Mai." Everyone smiled and greeted her. "Where have you been?!" Aang smiled, handing her a cup of wine, "you have missed so much stuff!"

"Like what? Wait, why is Toph trying to kill fire bending generals?" she asked.

"Because they either fight Toph to keep their jobs if they win, or leave peacefully." Sokka said, he stood and slapped Toph on the shoulder, "You were awesome!"

"I know." Toph smiled simply, Zuko nudged her shoulder.

"Not that I care, but why is Toph passing judgement? What did these men do?" Mai asked, her heartbeat gave her away to Toph, who shot her a look.

"They insult-" Zuko started, but Toph cut in.

"They called me an adulterer, someone heard me and Zuko messing around and assumed the _worse_. We still don't know who _heard_ us. But whoever it was, they dobbed us in." Toph said, paying close attention to her reaction. Mai's heart sped slightly, she may appear calm on the outside, but even she can't control her internal reactions.

"Sounds pretty serious." She sighed, all she wanted to do was get rid of the little earth brat. As soon as the party is finished, she will be engaged then she can _advise_ her husband as the new Fire Lady. She wondered how long it would take for her to convince Zuko that Toph was up to no good. Why else did she encourage Geio to spill to half the palace of the _affair_… Or that she should be handled with extreme caution, safest to restrain her…

Toph narrowed her eyes, glaring sightlessly at Mai, she knew that Mai had something to do with this. But she wasn't going to stoop to her level, this was all over Zuko, _boys are dumb_.

Toph felt new vibrations as the final two challengers strode onto the stone rink. They were confident, Toph smirked and turned back towards them, she dropped her cup, filled with water. Though, she purposely dropped it on an angle so that it would splash out and onto a certain dull noble. She cried out when the water wet her. Toph just kept walking onto the pitch.

Two can play the bitch game.

…

She spun out of the way of a lightning strike. This duel was serious, much more than the last one. She slammed her hands together, crushing the weaker benders leg, he screamed as he hit the ground. Once he was down she shot in out of the rink, Katara was reluctant, but helped him until more healers arrived. It had taken her long enough to keep them near each other, she hated having them separated.

Sweat soaked her shirt and dripped from her forehead. The stronger bender, Miko, was much the same, struggling with the heat of the night and the amount of effort he realized he would need to destroy the little bitch. He was good, she will admit that. He managed to always leave the ground just in time for her attacks, but she was just as good at avoiding his. He had resorted to lightning attacks.

What he didn't know, was that lightning vibrated the earth, giving her a pretty good idea of where he was and where it was heading. She smiled, shooting earth in at five different angles, finally! He was knocked down, not for long but it was still a gain for Toph.

"I cannot help wondering if your entire culture is as disrespectful as you are!" he spat, panting. They were far enough away from everyone that they couldn't hear clearly, or at all. Toph could of heard him if it was whispered.

"I can't help wondering if all fire nation men are as perverted and cowardly as- _you_!" she thrush an enormous mould of dirt at him on the last word, he smashed through it with his lightning.

"Ah yes, what I would have done to you if the Fire Lord and his posse hadn't arrived. I would have put you in your place." He was enjoying this, admittedly he was falling out of routine, but as long as he found some way to scare her. "Is it true that earthbender woman take it _anywhere_?"

Toph growled, this man was disgusting. She groaned as she exerted all her strength into separating herself from this dirty man. She needed to end this _now_. She thrust her foot forward, making him lose his balance and hit the ground, hard. "That is for Sokka! And so is this!" she punched her hand up, making the ground beneath him throw him into the air, he was about to lightning bend to save his fall, but at that moment Toph slammed her foot down, the earth secured him. She walked towards him, and leant down, her face inches from his. He was up to his shoulders in solid earth, Toph was closing her hand slowly, making the earth constrict him.

"You _whore_." He spat.

"_For someone in your position that is not wise." _She quoted what he had said to her after she bit him. She stood up straight and raised her leg high, "And that is Lady ass-kicker to you, you fuck." And bought her foot down, the man shoot out of the ground and straight into the palace wall, almost fifty metres away, it should have killed him, but he managed to save himself. It didn't matter, Toph had humiliated all of them, as they had her.

…

Toph sat alone in her room, she shivered as she ran her fingers over her burn. She felt dirty and sick, she stumbled towards the bathroom, the bath was still hot from when she had arrived back twenty minutes ago, the servants had helped her getting it ready, but were since dismissed. She almost dived into it, scrubbing at her mark, her face, her arms. Miko had gotten to her, all she could think about was, _what if?_, there was no doubt that horrible man would have hurt her. The way he had sneered and dishonoured her. She scrubbed harder at her burn, she suddenly felt a great amount of pain. She stopped and sat quietly. Then she put her head in her hands and sobbed.

…

Zuko walked towards her room, only to say goodnight and complement her fighting. He didn't realize he was being followed until his shadow cleared her throat. "Mai? What're you still doing here?" he was surprised to see her, he had thought she had gone home long ago.

"I just wanted to talk to you quickly. I got an invite to that party tomorrow, I am been _forced _to go. I mean, I guess you have it worse, you actual _need_ to pick someone to marry."

He smiled at her and leaned against the wall, "Yeah, well, at least I know one person properly. I might just pick you if I can't find anyone. I mean, you and me have failed before, I would hate to force you to be with me again!" he smiled. He had missed her.

"Yeah well, it might not be so bad this time around." She shrugged, thrilled that planting the seed in his mind was easier than she thought. "We might _even_-"

"Fire Lord Zuko," a servant bowed and interrupted, "Please, you need to come!"

"I have got to go. I will see you tomorrow!" he followed the frantic servant. Mai snarled at the interruption, but quickly got over it. The seed was planted, she had the Fire Lord in the bag.

…

"I went in to extinguish the candles in Lady Toph's room, and she was crying in the bath. I know you are her friend, so I didn't know who to run too." The servant was scared that she would be in trouble for overstepping possible boundaries. But Zuko just thanked her, her entered the room slowly and dismissed the servant.

He could hear Toph's quiet sobs, he saw her clothes laying on the floor, singed and torn from the duel, but also her bed clothes. He approached the door, and whispered, "Toph? Are-are you okay?"

No answer, there was a pause in the sobbing, but it just started again after a while. "Toph? I am coming in, okay? Cover up if you need too." He opened the door a few seconds after he finished talking. He saw her sitting in the huge bath. He approached slowly, there was no bubbles and he could see her naked body. She was so small, curled up like that, like she was twelve again, the only changes were her full hips and breasts. Then he noticed something, the bathwater was pink. _Pink_? He grabbed a long, heavy towel and coaxed Toph to stand, he wasn't paying any attention to the fact she was naked, there was a bleeding cut, he wrapped her in the towel and carried her towards the bed. She was still sobbing the whole time, not sure what to do, he searched for some clothes for her.

He examine the cut as he tried to put the clothes on her, it looked as though someone had scrapped a large section of skin from her. He grabbed a bandage from the bathroom and wrapped it around her tightly.

Zuko help Toph slip into a large shirt and baggy pants, he dried her hair and tried to calm her. He held her to his chest as she continued to sob, it was going to be a long night.


	10. Party time

**R/R = More Chapters**

Zuko sat on Toph's bed, she was curled up in his arms, her head on his chest. She was breathing regularly, a slight hitch every now and then. _At least she isn't crying anymore_, he thought. He still had no idea what had caused one of the bravest people he knows to act that way. He stroked her hair, it was in a huge messy bun, bits were falling out everywhere, he would twist them back into the bun only to have more fall out. He decided to venture, maybe she was up to talking.

"You fought wonderfully tonight, I was impressed." He started.

No reply.

He waited a few minutes, he repositioned himself so he could see her face, her eyes were open, and she was blinking. "Toph? Please talk to me. I hate you being sad, it isn't like you."

"I don't want to talk about it yet. Gimme a minute." She sighed, her breathing hitched again and her eyes brimmed with tears.

"Toph! Please don't cry, we don't have to talk about it yet! I will change the subject!" he thought for something to say, he wiped her tears away with his large fingers, they were warm against her skin. "I know, are you coming to the party tomorrow? I hope you are." He smiled at her.

"Are you nervous? About choosing a wife?" Toph asked, looking up towards him. Seeing nothing.

"A little bit. It sucks that it is a room of pre-determined women, I feel bad for them, and hardly any of them know me, well, besides Mai. But if it didn't work out once…" he let the sentence trail off.

Toph knew that Mai would be there, _would he choose her_ _just because they are friends_? _What would he say if he found out Iroh's plan_? These thoughts circled in her mind. "I might come. If you could choose a wife, _anyone_, who would it be?"

"Honestly, I don't know. What are my options?" he smiled at her, maybe turning it into a game would take her mind off whatever made her sad.

"Okay… Ty Lee, Suki, Katara, Mai… Umm, Smellerbee and me. In less preferable to most, go." She said.

"Less to most? Okay… Katara-"

"Ha ha! Why not Katara?" Toph laughed, surprised, she has always been told of her beauty, surely that would overshadow any personality flaws.

"I was going to say why! Just because, even if she wasn't smitten with Aang, she is too, motherly. For me anyway. Next would be, Smellerbee, she honestly scares me. Though she has really grown to be quite pretty. Hmm, okay maybe Ty Lee, too happy, then Smellerbee. Yeah." He thought for a bit.

Toph smiled, Zuko continued. "Mai and Suki, they are a tie, they are both great and all, but both have their moments when I just want to flick a fireballs at them. Ha ha, probably the most preferable… You. Yeah, I would marry you if I could." She blushed. "You are so strong and beautiful, and funny as well. Having secret, and not so secret rendezvous with you has been my favourite part of seeing everyone. I just wish we could have kept it up." He felt relieved actually admitting it out loud. "If you could choose a husband, out of: Aang, myself, Sokka, Tao, Haru and Longshot, who would you pick?"

"Less to most? Um, Longshot, because he speaks with his eyes and I cannot see. So it would get boring after a while. Haru, too brotherly. Aang and Sokka are great, but I just know them too well, I would kill them. Tao is wonderful, but you are my pick too. That way, I could get back at you for all the trouble you caused." She smiled lightly and sighed.

There was silence for a while, Zuko was going to try again. "Please, tell me what was wrong."

She raised her head to look towards him, her eyes met his, and he held her sightless gaze. She sighed and spoke, her voice was raspy and broke a few times, "The last _man_ I fought, Miko, he admitted that he would have-" she paused, tearing up again, "-done something to me, something horrible, if you had been even a little later. He burned me, I had to remove whatever trace he had on me." She gestured to her open wound that Zuko had bandaged. "He made me feel sick and dirty. And he was talking about earth kingdom girls, _taking it_."

Zuko was shocked, all the good feelings disappeared, his entire body grew hot, he was going to kill him, his heart started to beat harder. Toph felt the change in his body, "What is wrong?" she asked, wiping her nose and propping herself up on his chest.

"Nothing, let's get you to Katara. Well make sure there is no trace of him on you." He wriggled out from under her and took her hand, leading her towards the door. She complied, feeling a change in his body that worried her.

…

Katara was braiding her long hair, she had just gotten out of the bath. It was late, the duel had taken at least an hour, and half an hour of saying good-night and joking about Toph's victory. She was about to settle in bed, Aang was due to pop in soon for his nightly visit. Katara sat up and waited patiently, making patterns out of the water in the jug next to her bed. A knock at the door, it was an urgent knock. She smiled and walked quickly towards the door.

"Well, someone is eager- oh, Zuko!" Katara blushed. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we come in?" Zuko asked. Katara didn't see Toph standing behind him.

"We? Oh, Toph, I didn't see- what is wrong? Are you okay?" Katara practically dragged them into the room. Toph sniffed, she hated being seen like this. She slowly explained the wound on her side, and how she tried to remove it herself. Katara hugged her tightly and went to get her water, when she returned there was another knock on the door.

Zuko walked over and opened it.

"Well, hellllllooooo ther- _Zuko_!" Aang was standing in the hall with a panda-lilly in his mouth and his clothes almost fully removed. Aang quickly covered up and waddled inside. "Sorry, Zuko. I didn't kn- Toph? Oh gee, did you try and wake her again?"

Katara and Toph smiled at the flustered Aang, as he tried to quickly get dressed. Zuko cleared his throat. "I will be back. I have something I need to do." He walked over and touched Toph's cheek lightly before turning a walking out the door.

…

Zuko stood in his office, he held his Blue Spirit mask in his hands, and he was dressed in all black. It was old and cracked. He had tossed one away, a long time ago. But he didn't only have one. He grabbed his Dao swords and leap out the window of his office. He had one mission tonight and he was going to see it through.

…

The Blue Spirit stalked over the roof of a neighbouring house, he watched in the window. A small woman, no more that Toph's age was dancing in front of the general, he was drinking out of a large bottle of wine, there were two more empty on the ground. At first, Zuko thought it may be his daughter, but then he barked an order at her, Zuko couldn't hear, but the girl stopped and removed her top layer of clothing. Miko kept barking orders, until the girl stood naked in front of him. He stood and grabbed the girl by the back of the neck and dragged her into his room, shutting the door behind him.

Zuko growled, he gracefully swung down and into the room where the general was just sitting. He landed on all fours silently and walked towards the door. He drew his swords, but a swooping sound behind him stopped him. He spun to see Aang.

"Zuko! What are you doing?!" he whispered.

"Did you follow me?" Zuko whispered back, lifting his mask.

"Toph was worried about you, she said you internally freaked out." He said coolly. Retracting his glider into a staff.

"Aang, I know you are against violence and revenge, but please. Let me take care of him." He whispered anxiously.

"Zuko, why? Why this general?" Aang asked, Toph or Katara obviously hadn't told Aang. Zuko felt his patience at the Avatar growing thin.

"Because." Zuko said, turning back towards the door. He could hear struggling.

"Because what?!" Aang whispered, he was losing _his_ patience with the Fire Lord.

"Because he said that he would have raped her, Aang!" the words felt like poison in his mouth. "She was alone and helpless on the table, and Miko said that if we hadn't of found her, he would have taken her- in front of all those men!" his whispering was turning into groans of horror and disgust. All he could think about was Toph being hurt by the men who held her down. "I need to. If he can't have her, he will hurt someone else."

Aang was horrified, "How-how do you know that?"

As if the universe was on Zuko's side, they heard the young girl behind the paper door.

"_Please! I am only a dancer! Please stop!" _

"_This will teach you for making me lose my job!_" Miko growled drunkenly, he slurred his words. "_Earth bending bitch._"

"_But! I am n-_" she started to cried, but she didn't finish her sentence, there was a sound

He was taking his defeat out on the dancer, Zuko didn't even look at Aang, he put his mask on and burst through the door, ripping through the paper, the general was naked, tying the small girl to his bed. She screamed and Miko stopped and stared, Zuko swung one of his swords, skilfully slicing the ropes from the girl's feet, then swiping again to free her hands.

The dancer stood and ran out to the other room, she screamed again when she saw Aang, he had a covering over his arrow, but he was sure his glider would give him away. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Aang asked, he handed her clothes to her and told her to cover her eyes once she was dressed. When she did, he grabbed her and opened his glider. "I will see you later." Aang said harshly. Then jumped from the high building and flew the girl to where she needed to be.

Zuko knew the girl would be safe. He turned back on the general.

"You monster," The Blue Spirit growled, as he walked towards the general. Miko shot a fire ball at Zuko, he deflected it with a flick, his fury was building, his vision was red with rage, this man is going to die. He swung his sword, it sliced Miko's arm, he let out a cry. Blood pooled on the rug. "You could have accepted your defeat. You could have lived the rest of your life humbly. But you threatened the wrong woman."

"Who?" Miko spluttered. Zuko snarled at him, he didn't even know.

"The earth kingdom noble."

"She is nothing but a whor-" Zuko's vision blackened as he plunged his sword into Miko's chest. Miko screamed a strangled cry and he fell back against the wall. Zuko removed his mask and looked directly into Miko's eyes.

"You! You are the Blue Spirit?" Miko creaked. His head lolling to one side. His heart fluttered then stopped.

Zuko stood and left the room.

…

It was morning when Zuko got the scroll. He was eating breakfast with all of his friends when Geio walked in carrying a scroll. He was in a hurry this morning, the party was that night and there was still a lot for the event planner to do. Zuko read the scroll and put it back on the table. Aang already knew what it was about and looked away. He _was_ angry with Zuko, until he heard the girl's struggle, now he was upset with himself, if he had made Zuko leave, that girl could have been…

"What did it say, Zuko? Or is it super-secret?" Ty Lee asked innocently. She and Haru were sitting together and holding hands on top of the table, they decided to officially start dating.

"General Miko's body was found in his house last night. They suspect murder, no evidence." Zuko said, Toph lifted her head at the mention of the disgusting man. She felt for Zuko's reaction, he seemed calm. _Could it have been him? _She thought.

Taki came in, he was one of Zuko's favourite people in the palace. He cleared his throat, "Fire Lord Zuko, I am afraid you have a full day ahead of you. All your friends will be at the celebration tonight. Please, we must get started." Zuko stood and waved good-bye as he was taken away by his servants.

"See you all tonight!" he shouted as he was dragged from the room.

…

Iroh and Toph walked down the long hall, Iroh had tea planned in the garden, they were analysing Toph's duels and discussing the details. Iroh expressed how impressed he was, then they discussed the _untimely _death of the Fire Nation's most irritable general. "He deserved it, of course. But it makes me wonder, who finally had enough of his… well, _him_." They stepped down onto the grass and across towards a pond. Iroh paused and sat down at a table, he poured a cup of tea for Toph and a larger cup for himself. They were silent for a minute. "So, ha-"

"I know what you are going to ask, Iroh." Toph grumbled into her tea, "And I still don't know."

"I am afraid you do not have much time, Lady Toph. The party is to begin in only four hours." Iroh said, his heart broke slightly- he wanted so desperately for her to say yes.

"I just don't know, Iroh. What if I go and he still chooses someone prettier? I hate getting crushes, I always finish second." She was thinking of Sokka. She sighed and sipped her tea.

"Lady Toph, I don't think you know just how lovely you are!" Iroh smiled, placing a large hand on hers. "I believe that if you were to walk through that door, he would faint at the sight of your loveliness. Why, I bet, no, I _know_ you have not told him of my plan. Otherwise he would have taken you as his bride already. Despite the fact that both of you would probably kill each other, you would make a fearsome couple." He smiled widely squeezing her hand, than he smiled wider and sipped from his tea, "And imagine the children! Ah!" Toph was in the middle of a sip and spat her drink everywhere, she laughed and he laughed. Even the guards chuckled.

After a while, they quieten down. Iroh could hardly contain his joy at the next words that left Toph's mouth. "Well, it is either marry him or return home… Iroh, how long do you think it would take to find me something to wear? I'm in."

…

Toph walked into Suki's room, all of the girls were getting ready. The party was an hour away. Toph smiled as everyone fussed over hair and make-up. She sat with Smellerbee, who had shown up not long after tea with Iroh, they received an invite to attend the celebration and the wedding. There was no way Zuko's friends wanted to miss out on this disaster.

They were laughing about the various events they remembered from their drunken evening, when Toph recognised a pair of footsteps, Iroh knocked before entering, everyone greeted him and he complemented the room of beautiful ladies. Then he turned to Toph.

"Lady Toph, here is your dress," he handed a large fabric bag to her, "And you need to wear this around your wrist, it will allow you to be seen as one of the eligible ladies." He handed her a small box. "Your one is special, as I designed it. You are entering under my guardianship, just for tonight."

It had been explained to her that parents must be present to bless the engagement, should their daughter be picked, but if the parents cannot make it, a substitute can be selected as a temporary guardian. He bowed to Iroh and he hugged her. "Good luck, Lady Toph." As he walked towards the door, he turned to Ty Lee, "I hear you are a whiz with a make-up brush, she promised not to squirm, have fun." He left. The room was silent.

"W-what?" Suki said, "You are, what?"

Toph sighed, "I am of noble birth and marrying age. Makes me eligible." Everyone stayed silent. "Are you guys going to help me or not?"

"But, you are not Fire Nation…" Ty Lee said, _Mai is going to be pissed_.

"They never specified I had to be." she grinned.

"This just got interesting." Katara laughed. "Does he know? I know you guys have a _thing_… This is so exciting! Congratulations!"

"I haven't won his heart yet, Sugar Queen." She smiled as Katara embraced her.

"Well! We have no time to lose! Chop chop!" Ty Lee grabbed her and put her in the chair, "We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there." Referring to having to do Toph's make-up.

"What does the dress look like?" Toph asked, she heard Katara undo the bag hand gasp as she pulled the dress out for all to see.

"Toph, it is beautiful. Wow, Iroh really knows you!" Katara smiled. "It is dark green, with a gold sash, incredible embroidery. Wow, just wow."

"A bit vague! Tut tut! The gold embroidery covers the whole dress, the golden sash has dark green embroidery on the ends," Suki started "to match the dress I assume, the back dips down, and so does the front, it has long sleeves… I wonder what it looks like on?" She asked.

"Make up first!" Ty Lee squealed. Pouncing on Toph and laughing.

"Keep it light!" Toph shouted as there was a flurry of brushes.

…

"I don't want to know what my make-up looks like!" Toph shouted before anyone could comment.

Katara styled her hair up, she reminisced that it looked almost the same as when they first meet her in her garden, very proper, Katara was proud of herself.

Her make-up was simple, gold eyeliner shaped her bottom and top lash line. It was blended up into green on her lid, and her lips were natural pink, though Ty Lee had dabbed a tiny amount of gold onto her lips as well, when she spoke or turned her head towards the light, her lips would subtly cast off gold shimmer. She looked beautiful. Now it was time for the dress.

It was difficult, the long row of pearl buttons looked extremely fragile. The back of the dress plummeted down to below her shoulder blades, it fitted like a glove and the dark green silk fabric contrasting perfectly with her skin, the golden sash was to be tied around her waist. The front was low enough to show her collar bones and subtly show some cleavage. She didn't wear shoes, as Iroh hadn't delivered any.

"If Zuko doesn't marry you, I will!" Suki laughed, "I mean, we passed first base when I saved you from the water at Serpent's Pass." She winked and laughed.

"Are you ever going to let me forget that?!" Toph sighed, "Wait, where is Iroh's bracelet?"

"I have it! It is really nice, it has _eligible _on one side with the Flying Boar for your family and the other side has the white lotus Pai Sho piece painted on it. How Iroh, who knew the old man had style?" Smellerbee said, she placed it on Toph's wrist. "Come on, we will be late if we take any longer, I cannot wait to see this."


	11. Entertainment or Tedium?

**This is getting exciting, thank-you all for your words of honesty.**

**Keep the R/R coming! **

"Iroh! Why is your personal seel and the eligibility seel stamped on this Earth Kingdom, err, girl?" one of the generals asked, snarling down at Toph, she went to flick her wrist but Aang caught it, knowing it would not do her any favours if she earthbended someone into the ceiling, Sokka chuckled.

Considering there were approximately fifty eligible girls all who are accompanied by parents, the Fire Sages and Fire Lord Zuko's personal guests, there were a lot of people to check, plus all the party crashers trying to sneak in. There were eight guards and two generals, Iroh was one of them, and they were checking the bracelets and noble documents and recording the names of all the noble girls.

"Ah yes, Lady Toph Bei Fong, you look lovely." Iroh said, writing her name at the bottom of the list.

"You cannot! She is-"

"Of noble birth. I happened to bring my scroll, of which the conditions of the party were decided. You did not specify on _nationality_. It is signed, and if anyone wanted to change or add exclusions to it, they needed to do so twenty-four hours ago." Iroh smiled cleverly, the noble's mouth dropped. He chuckled evilly as Toph and the others entered the hall, they were late and entered as the eligible women were already being introduced to the Fire Lord. There were ten names on each scroll that was read out, Iroh made sure he did not hand his in until Toph was on it.

Katara leaned down and whispered to Toph, "From the looks of it, you need to walk from here to the throne, bow then walk back."

"It's a '_if you got it, flaunt it _situation'. '_Strut your stuff'_ type thing." Sokka whispered. Everyone laughed quietly as Iroh walked up and handed his scroll to the man reading out the names, he interrupted the introduction of a noble girl who hissed at him.

Mai's name was called and a few people gasped, "She looks beautiful!" Ty Lee squeaked, seeing her friend in make-up that isn't totally depressing is always nice change. Mai walked toward the throne, Toph could feel the Fire Lord bow and his heart fluttered simultaneously.

Toph's confidence plummeted. Haru and Sokka both place a hand on her shoulder, thinking it was Ty Lee's comment that hurt her feelings.

"You are way prettier, Toph." Sokka smiled, he kissed her cheek. She blushed.

"I second that." Haru smiled, he nudged her gently. She sighed softly and focused on the crowd, gauging their reactions and wondering how they will react to her.

A few minutes passed, a few more girls were introduced. Longshot suddenly nodded at Smellerbee, she smiled and blushed, than a short while later, he nodded again. "That name that just got called, Longshot saw that name at the top of your list, nine to go."

"Wow, we must have been late!" The Duke chuckled, he already had a handful of food that he was sharing with Sokka and Jet.

"You will smash this, well hopefully not literally. I think they would want this place in one piece." Aang smiled.

Toph felt her nerves growing, _what if he rejects me_? Tao smiled up at her, seeing that she was nervous, he pulled his lever that helped him stand, he leant down and kissed her cheek, the opposite one to Sokka. "You are going to make him _runaway_ with you!" he whispered, linking his arm with her as a comfort. She smiled and rolled her eyes at his cheesy reference to when she was younger.

"All I have to do is get pretty and nervous, and suddenly I get kisses and complements, interesting." Toph said, everyone snickered.

"Everyone is wearing red or black. You will definitely be the stand-out _noble_." Suki whispered. She emphasised noble, because she wore her traditional Kyoshi ball gown, along with Ty Lee, both had green and gold with long sleeves. Katara wore a Southern Water Tribe gown that was blue and silver and Smellerbee wore a traditional dress that was green and silver. In fact, they were the all the only people not wearing red. Aang was wearing his yellow formal clothes, similar to the ones he wore to Zuko's coronation, he requested the style again as it was easy to move, his wooden necklace hung around his neck. Jet, The Duke and Longshot wore their usual style, but the royal dressmakers insisted on 'sprucing them up', so they added layers and replaced patches. They really looked handsome. Sokka wore grey water tribe formal clothes and Haru and Tao were dressed by Ty Lee, she had begged them for ages before Haru crumbled.

"Lin-Yu Yikin, house of Yikin." The announcer called, Toph could tell the small girl walking towards the throne was pretty, murmurs echoed as she approached the Fire Lord. There was a pause as they bowed to each other.

Longshot whispered quickly, "You are after this girl."

Toph jumped slightly, "I will never get used to your voice…" Toph smiled at him, he patted her on the shoulder. They had become great friends too.

"I can't wait to see his face…" Jet chuckled, everyone smiled in anticipation.

Than the announcer started again.

"And finally-"

…

Mai straightened her dress and watched as the Fire Lord bowed to the second last girl, Lin-something. _Gosh, this was so boring_. She hoped the girls were all as boring as their families looked. She half smiled at her joke, he father leaned down and whispered to her, "I think you are the prettiest, no girl will beat you. You will be the Fire Lady in no time."

She rolled her eyes at her father's comment, when her eyes came to rest a waiter over near the table caught her eye and winked at her. She raised an eyebrow at him, he winked again.

She looked away from him, she had bigger fish to catch.

This was better than she expected, she got the most murmurs and Zuko visibly blushed. She had this in the bag. She almost smiled as she thought, _if I hadn't broken up with him, I wouldn't be waiting so long_. The announcer took a deep breath than spoke.

"And finally-"

…

Zuko hated to sound shallow, but Mai was definitely the pick of the bunch, she was the prettiest, and he knew her. This party would be over quickly. He looked beyond the crowd of admiring parents and nobles, he saw his friends laughing at something, probably him.

As soon as he could, he would propose, then he could spend most the party with them. He strained his eyes, The Duke, Jet, Longshot and Smellerbee were there, he was wondering if they had made it, he would go greet them as soon as he could. He couldn't see Toph, though, Tao had someone's arm linked with his, he could only assume it was Toph, there were people in front of them. He flushed with jealously. I guess he couldn't blame her for moving on. He was practically decided himself.

"Lin-Yu, house of Yikin." A pretty girl walked towards the throne, he bowed to her, _she looked nice, but she must only be fifteen, how was she snuck in_? He though dryly. He had kept count in his head, forty-nine, one to go. He was excited to get this over with, he also had his eye on the barrels of wine near the food table, and they would help him through the night.

Well, Mai is going to be the new Fire Lady, he sighed and waited.

"And finally-" the announcer called. Zuko smiled half-heartedly, last one. I am sure she won't mind a quick bow.

…

"Toph Bei Fong of the Bei Fong household."

…

Mai's eyes widen in shock. "What?!" she said, not meaning to say it out loud. She watched as the beautiful young woman walked towards the Fire Lord. _How?!_ She felt her top lip curl in a silent snarl.

…

_Here goes nothing. _She thought, she walked to the aisle and walked gracefully towards the Fire Lord. She could feel his heart going crazy, and she could hear him say her name aloud. She smiled, hisses and murmurs filled her ears.

"_Why is she wearing green? How disrespectful!_"

"_I heard about her, she is from the richest family in the Southern Earth Kingdom! What fine features!_"

"_I guess they let anyone in…_"

The negative comments outweighed the positive, but at least not everyone was against her. She turned her attention back to the Fire Lord, his heart had not calmed, actually it was the exact opposite, _maybe I should call medical attention for him_? She laughed internally. "Hey Sparky. Looking good." She smiled sarcastically as she bowed, she turned and walked away. She knew she was going to be in trouble. She smiled.

…

Zuko almost choked. "_Toph_?!" he whispered out loud, though it was meant to be said to himself, he looked to his uncle in the crowd and saw him doubled over in silent laughter. _He knew! _His heart must have been audible.

Zuko looked up and controlled his expression, he saw his friends laughing again, but then he saw her emerge from the crowd. His stomach hit the ground, followed by his jaw. She was _breathtaking._ There was no other way of putting it.

There were murmurs in the crowd, though Zuko wasn't listening, she walked towards him. He had never wanted something so much in his life. She stopped and bowed, "Hey Sparky. Looking good."

He returned the bow, not even acknowledging her sarcastic comment, not taking his eyes from her. Then she turned and walked back to their friends, with the Fire Lord still staring after her.

…

Zuko walked straight towards his friends, politely moving through the guests, the look of shock on his face had his friends laughing before he reached them, Toph had a glass of wine waiting for Zuko. He growled as he took his drink from her, it wasn't an angry growl, but an annoyed growl, it soon turned into a smile, as his friends couldn't stop laughing, people were looking at them.

"That. Was. Great." Aang smiled, downing his drink and slapping Zuko on the back.

"You should have seen your face," Jet laughed, "it was- well, hello there ladies." A group of eight girls were approaching the Fire Lord.

"Hello, may we steal you away for a bit?" Zuko had forgotten about this part, he had to talk to all of them. _Gah! _He was cursing on the inside but smiled politely.

"Of course. But I will insist on bring two of my _single_ friends with me." He nudged Tao and Jet. They laughed and the group started to walk away, Zuko turned back and whispered, "You wait until your turn!", he knew Toph would hear, she looked towards him and winked. She knew we was still looking at her because his heart skipped a beat.

"Tonight is going to be fun." She smiled at her friends, finishing her drink.

…

Toph could not keep the grin off her face, and she was not the only one. She was standing with Tao, Katara, Aang, Longshot and Smellerbee. The Duke was talking to Iroh about tea, The Duke had never tried it, much to Iroh's horror. Jet had been slapped twice for inappropriate comments, Sokka and Suki were dancing around the room with Ty Lee and Haru, the band was playing romantic music and Suki and Ty Lee couldn't resist a dance. Tao had returned when it was made obvious that no girls wanted to focus on him when the Fire Lord was the prize, Jet wasn't giving up.

Katara was wanting to dance, but Aang was emerged in conversation with Fire Sage Shyu, who at the fall of Ozai, was reappointed as a sage and helped select a new place to worship Avatar Roku and past and future Avatars. "I am going to get another drink. Would you like one?" Katara asked Toph.

"Yeah, all this talk of spirits is starting to bore me," Toph said, finishing her drink, the wine was starting to have an effect on her. But she was not going to get drunk- at least not until the party is over, "You guys coming?" She said to Tao, Longshot and Smellerbee.

"Right behind you." Smellerbee said.

…

Tao sighed, _this party blows_, he thought, downing his wine and rolling after Toph. _She sure looks beautiful, they all do_. He looked at all of his friends, all in fancy clothing, he was too, but no one could see when he was sitting down. He rolled past the tea table.

"I like your goggles." Came a voice. He stopped and reversed. A pretty girl was behind the table, she was wearing one of Iroh's aprons. Her hair was piled up in a bunch and she had a smile that stretched from ear to ear. Tao realised he was staring.

He smiled at her and faced his wheelchair towards her, he pulled his lever and shot up to the standing position, "Hey, I am Tao." He smiled. Holding out his hand.

She smiled wider at him, "I am Jin." They shook hands, "um, would you like some tea?" she said, gesturing at the teas.

"What is that one?" Tao asked. Pointing at a tea in front of him.

"Oh, that one is gross." She giggled. "Trust me, how about you tell me what you like?"

Tao felt the wine seeping into his being, _Oh shit, do not say or do anything stupid_.

"Will I get slapped if I say brunettes?" He winked, Jin laughed and smiled at the handsome boy. Tao was thrilled at her reaction, maybe there is _one_ girl her that isn't obsessed with becoming the new Fire Lady. "Okay, what about that on-AHHHH!" he leant forward to point at a tea and his wheelchair fell forwards. There was a large crash as the table smashed, the whole room looked towards the noise.

"Tao!" Jin shouted. "Are you okay?!" she frantically clearing the bowls of tea leafs and special mixtures off him, the hot water had spilled near him, but not on him.

"And you guys thought I would be destructive…" Toph smiled, she stomped her foot, and a column of earth eased Tao upright, he was glowing red. The crowd that had gathered hissed and murmured. They knew Toph was not of the Fire Nation, but most of them didn't know she was an earthbender. Aang excused himself from his conversation to check on his friend.

"Tao? What happened?" he helped the waiters collect the cups with a sweep of his hand, the cups blew into a neat pile.

Katara dusted him off, Jin came around and helped, he looked at her apologetically. He tried to talk, "I fell, oh crap. Miss Jin, I-"

"Don't worry! I am fine, I was worried about you. And call me Jin, just Jin." She smiled. "I was about to close up anyway. Everyone is heading to the wine."

"If you are off duty, you should join us." Aang said, glancing sideways at Tao and smiling.

"I would like that." Jin smiled.

…

Zuko heard a crash and turned to investigate, "No wait! I haven't told about my fire bending training!" the girl almost shouted, she had been chewing his ear off for ages, and there were girls waiting to pounce everywhere. He felt like a sabertooth-moose-lion surrounded by Sokkas.

"I'm sorry, you are really nice, but I need to check that wasn't any of my personal friends." He started to leave, as soon as he left her presence he was swarmed by frills and red silk, giggles surrounded him and hands touching his arms. "Ladies, please, give me five minutes!" they didn't listen, they were all talking to him at once. He looked over their heads and saw Aang and Toph standing near Tao, and a broken table. He needed her attention. An idea hit him, he stamped his foot.

…

Toph had a reading on him as soon as he walked through the door, he was swarmed by girls. He was probably enjoying it. "_Ladies, please, give me five minutes!_" she heard him say. She was standing next to Tao, then she got a signal, a stomp, from Zuko, it sent a wave of vibrations, she felt him slide his foot out away from his body. A hint? Her head snapped in his direction, she smiled.

…

_Yes! She heard me, hopefully she gets the message_, Zuko thought, he did it again. Her smile widened as she slightly widened her stance and slid her foot in a semicircle away from her. The stone moved beneath the hoard of girl's feet, sending them quickly but gently, out of Zuko's path. They screamed as they were jolted in the opposite direction. Zuko beamed at his saviour, her cunning smile lit up her face.

"What happened over here?" Zuko laughed, scooping up a cup that Aang had missed.

"Tao made a new friend." Toph smiled.

"Oh! Hello Fire Lord _Lee_." Jin bowed respectfully, she had learnt of Zuko's true identity but still jokingly called him Lee.

"Jin! I haven't seen you for months! Why are you in the Fire Nation?" he bowed back.

"Lee?" Aang asked, he looked at Tao who shrugged.

"Ha, the origin of 'Lee' is an interesting story, I will explain in a second. Iroh offered me a trip of a lifetime! To help him start a tea shop here, it is very exciting. Are these your friends?"

"Yes, they are. I would love to catch up, but now I am pressed for time, I was going to take Toph for a while." He gestured for Toph to follow him, then mentally kicked himself, before walking back and placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the balcony, as soon as they were alone, Zuko turned to her.

"You are in trouble. How long have you and Uncle planned this?" Zuko asked, a hint of annoyance but he smiled as he spoke. He was thrilled but wished he had known.

"A few days, he kind of dropped it on me when I was recovering after being, well kidnapped." Toph said, she walked towards the edge of the balcony, the cool air washed passed her face, it was very stuffy inside. "I was going to tell you, but I wasn't sure I wanted to go through with it."

"Why not?" Zuko was surprised, he thought that she shared his feelings. He knew they weren't in love, well not yet.

"I have been last in a crush before, it hurt. Well now I think about I never really expressed my feelings... Then there is all the obvious stuff, like our backgrounds, our personality clashes," she half-smiled, "I mean, I would destroy this place in a single temper tantrum."

"So could I." Zuko smiled. "Toph, I am glad you came. I am glad you are eligible. I really am." As he was talking he walked towards her and took her hand. She smiled, squeezing his hand. "But I have a question for you. You need to answer honestly. It is important."

She rolled her eyes, "No, I am not after your crown. No, I don't have ties to any underground earthbending organizations planning to overthrow you that I know of. And Yes, I am practically dying to jump in those barrels of wine." She smiled, she heard Zuko huff, "What? You need to spit it out, not stall." She laughed.

He huffed again, and rolled his amber eyes at her, "Do you understand that if we get engaged, then married, we are stuck together?"

"Oh damn! That thought never occurred to me! That Iroh! Why didn't he warn me?!" She thrust her hands in the air and faked an expression of horror. "I am wearing the damn bracelet, aren't I? Of course I know what marriage is." She smiled and sipped from her wine. "How many of these _lovely_ ladies do you have left to chat with?"

He smiled at her reaction to his question, and thought for a second, "I think maybe eight? One of them being Mai, which should be good. She knows enough about me to hold a different conversation, I have told my life story like a hundred times." He sighed.

"Aww! Life must suck!" she smiled, she swallowed the last of her wine and gestured to the door. "I need a refill, and you need to get all this over with and make your damn decision." She went to walk back inside, but Zuko grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him.

"First, let me say, you look… Just… There are no words." He whispered. He leant down and lightly pushed his lips to hers.

…

"How are you enjoying the party?" Zuko asked Mai, they were standing out on the balcony, but this time they were in view of the people inside, until Mai shut the curtains and turned towards him. Zuko had finally finished talking to everyone, and he had found Mai.

"Zuko, you cannot honesty be considering the earth kingdom girl." Mai wasn't messing around with small talk. She had planned a hundred assassination strategies to remove Toph, but didn't plan on acting on any. She just like imagining having the upper hand, she always had a plan, and Toph always worked around it.

"Well, not _honestly_, I have guilty intentions." He chuckled, being cheeky. He thought she was asking as a friend, not an ex-girlfriend. He decided it was time to follow his friends lead, and drink some wine, not too much.

"The fire nobles will not let you marry her. She will destroy our culture. She will destroy you." Mai said coldly. Zuko realized she was angry and very serious.

"I don't think it is _their_ decision, besides, it is not only what I want, but what I think the nation needs, showing that nations can become united."

"What is wrong with picking a fire noble? I thought you said I could be your wife, it is a preferable choice. She probably won't give you a firebending heir. No one will follow you if you decide to choose her…" Mai was starting to crack, she still managed to keep a calm appearance, she was so sure she would be engaged. So sure that she would have him back.

"Why do you care? We didn't work out before? You left me, remember? Now you suddenly want back in because I have moved on? It doesn't work that way." Zuko had had enough of her for now. _She must have had a few to drink, she likes Toph_. He always thought they were friends, maybe she was just tired.

Mai growled internally. _So what? I lost the battle… I wonder if she is prepared for a war?_ "Fine, I just hope you trust in your decision."

She walked away from him, "By the way, you have gold on your lips…" she said over her shoulder, leaving him alone on the balcony.

He touched his fingers to his lips, and wiped in on his robe. It was almost midnight, he needed to return and announce his decision.

…

The Fire Lord stood behind the announcer front of everyone, they all eagerly awaited his announcement. The announcer rambled on about how successful the evening was, excluding Tao's incident.

Zuko sighed and looked out over the crowd, Toph was laughing with his friends. He looked at Mai, standing silently beside her father talking to the generals. What is right for him, or right for the nation? Entertaining or tedium?

Some of the things Mai said made him think. What if, Toph was a bad idea? The generals would always act against her, the nation might reject her as their Fire Lady, what if the only heir is an earthbender? An earthbending Fire Lord…

Maybe he should go with Mai. She is a non-bender, so the chance of him producing a fire bending heir with her was much greater, the generals would be happy, the nation would rejoice. But how long would it take before he wanted to toss himself from the roof just for entertainment.

"The Fire Lord will now address the audience and make his announcement." The announcer bowed and stepped away, Zuko walked to the front of the stage. He took a deep breath and started to speak.


	12. Temper Tantrum

**I hope this quenches your impatience.**

**It's the quenchiest.**

**R/R = More Chapters**

**Stay Honest.**

He sat in his office, it was three days before the wedding. _His_ wedding. The horrible party was a week ago and he had publicly made his decision, today he would meet with his generals and other council members to discuss the final details. Tonight he would go out with his friends and celebrate the end of his single life and the start of a union, as was Fire Nation tradition. Tomorrow he would craft the ring and pay his respects to his soon-to-be-bride, after he recovers from his party, as was Fire Nation tradition. Also, she would go out with her friends and celebrate the end of her single life, as was Fire Nation Tradition. Though he wondered how both girls would handle each other if they were together.

Zuko sighed, a feeling of insecurity washed over him. _What if I chose wrong?_ He looked at the painting of his mother and him on the wall of his office. "Mother, did I do what was right? Would you be proud?"

…

"Toph?" Katara whispered anxiously as she poked her head through the door. "Toph, are you in there?" Katara looked over her shoulder and shrugged at Suki. They heard a rustling sound and edged into her room.

"Go away." Toph grumbled.

"Toph, I know you are disappointed, but please. Come out and join us?" Suki said, approaching the bed, she was curled up in a ball, her head under the covers. "You haven't left your room in days. I don't want to sound insensitive, but, is it really that surprising?" she said it as softly as she could. There was a flurry of movement as Toph shot up in a sitting position.

"Of course it is! I got my hopes up! I was so sure! And he-he-" she started to tear up, Suki moved closer to her and held her tightly, Katara came closer and held her hand, patting it soothingly.

"Hello?" Smellerbee was at the door. She was also worried about Toph, Ty Lee should behind her with a bowl of fruit, Fire Nation chocolate and bag of scrolls. "Can we join the party?" there were three guards behind them holding two bottles of Iroh's fine wine each. It took Ty Lee and Suki's skills to sneak them out.

Toph was about to grumble something very rude when Katara cut her off, "Of course. What is in the bag, Ty Lee?" they all came and leap onto Toph's bed. Toph quickly wiped her eyes, these were her friends after all, and they were only trying to help.

"These, well when I was in my final years of school, I stumbled across an old box in one of the storage cupboards. In it were rumours and stories from before any of us were born. They range from how people got their fortune, scandalous behaviour, flat out sex-stories to _How-to_ and hilarious short stories." She placed the bowl of chocolate in middle of the girls. "I will begin with my favourite: _Brain is __**definitely**__ better than brawn…_" She was already laughing. Katara popped the bottle and filled everyone's cups.

Toph sighed to herself, maybe this would help her feel better, as she drunk deeply.

…

_Maybe I should go see Toph, she might be in a better mood… _Zuko thought, he was about to leave for the meeting, but realized he would still make it on time if he stopped in quickly. He stood and started to wander towards her room flanked by guards. The Fire Lord looked out across the partially destroyed garden, she had lost her temper, and Haru and Aang were helping return the garden to its original beauty. She did warn him how easy it would be to destroy the place.

He continued to walk, he approached her door, he was about to knock when her heard laughing, he wedged the door open lightly and listened, he could hear Toph laughing with the other girls. She was doing fine, it is almost like the whole situation hasn't had an effect on her. He smiled half-heartedly and walked away.

…

Ty Lee couldn't stop laughing as she read the final lines, "… _I explained that it was safe for him to bring something to __**protect**__ us… He showed up with a sword._" She finished. Katara fell backwards in laughter, Smellerbee snorted and Suki and Toph both cracked up. This was definitely helping. They had moved from the bed to the floor, to avoid spilling wine on Toph's bed.

Toph grabbed a small handful of chocolate and started chewing on them, smiled as Ty Lee pulled out another _favourite _scroll, she had read fifteen scrolls by now, not to mention the ones that Katara and Suki had read. She started to read it, "This one is a romance." She read for a long time. When she reached the final line, Toph raised an eyebrow.

"First blood? What does that mean?" everyone went silent and looked at Toph nonchalantly chewing on chocolate. Suki's mind jumped back to the western air temple.

"You don't know about _first blood_? Didn't your mother or auntie or carer ever give you a sex talk?" Smellerbee asked, tossing a fire berry into her mouth. "Like, how and where and the results? Even I got told everything."

"No, my mother doesn't exactly… Well, expect me to have experiences others would, she probably didn't want me to ever know." She said awkwardly.

"Well! No time like the present!" Ty Lee chirped, putting the scroll down. "We will tell you everything we know!"

"I know where babies come from, but I don't know much about… Well the details." Toph sighed, she felt like such a child.

"Well, we could start by saying how we learnt and what we had experienced? It could help, as everyone is different." Katara said. "We joked about it at the Western Temple, but this time details and background is useful. Well, details that you are willing to _share_."

Toph shrugged, "It couldn't hurt." She was interested to learn what her friends thought, but didn't show it.

Ty Lee peeked at Smellerbee, "You first, I am curious to know how you found out and, well, you know." Ty Lee smiled widely, she had known that Smellerbee had spent most her young life with the Freedom Fighters. Smellerbee rolled her eyes and slowly begun her story.

"I was on an errand for Jet, I was alone and walked into a village. I had felt sick all morning and the day before, and as I walked past a shop, I pinched an apple from the edge of the table, an old lady stopped me, and I thought she was going to get me in trouble." Smellerbee huffed with a smile. "Turns out, she stopped me because I was bleeding. I freaked out and ran, but she found me trying to get rid of the blood and figure out where I had been injured. Anyway, she took me to her home, and explained. She cleaned me up and sent me on my way. So yeah, a complete stranger taught me about sex."

"So, that is what _first blood_ is?" Toph asked. She started to wonder if she had had it… She wouldn't know if she had, her mother probably kept that secret too.

"Well, yes and no. There is first blood and _first blood._" Katara smiled at Toph.

Toph glowered unseeingly at the girls, "What? Can't you give me a definition?"

"Women usually bleed when they first have sex… _First blood._" Katara sighed, "Not everyone is the same though."

"What about your first time?" Ty Lee asked to Smellerbee, pouring herself more wine.

"When we were refugees in Ba Sing Sa, Longshot and I were alone, and we were in bed, we had kissed a few times by then and were in bed together for warmth. Anyway, we started to kiss, then touch. Then he asked if we could try something, when I agreed, we had sex. It was painful and lasted what felt like forever, only because I was nervous and in pain… But it got better the more we did it."

"Why would you do it again if it hurt so much?" Toph asked, she already knew that sex had a possibility of hurting. But she was clinging to any information she could find.

"There is something about it, makes you want to feel it again." Smellerbee shrugged. "Your turn, Katara."

Katara smiled and Toph felt her heart speed up, _this is going to be so sappy, I can already tell_, Toph groaned internally.

"Gram-Gram taught me about sex and the monthly bleeding, she calls them periods, because they come periodically. I asked about it when I was helping her deliver a baby and wanted to know how babies were made, the woman in labour was relieved at a distraction." She chuckled and then sighed. "Me and Aang first had sex last year. We were in a market place and some Fire Nation rebel just started yelling at him about how he '_let his entire culture to die_'. Aang tried to ignore him, but he followed us everywhere, when we finally lost him, when we were heading back to Kyoshi, when we arrived, he was so upset that he wouldn't speak, so that night, before bed, I lay next to him and kissed him, he practically attacked me. Not violently, but urgently. It was needing to be close with someone." She sighed, "To be honest, I tried to stop him at first, not intending to have sex, but then I realized, I needed it too. It didn't hurt the first time, and was over quickly, but the next few times it did hurt."

That was not what Toph expected, she felt guilty for assuming that Katara would have had a perfect experience with everything. "Does he regret it? Not stopping when you asked?" Toph asked softy.

Katara smiled warmly, "Yes, of course, he was felt sick with himself for a while, I convinced him that I didn't regret it." She paused and grinned, "I am not sure I want to hear it, but, Suki?" she grimaced and laughed.

"It was the night before Sozin's comet actually, we both assumed the worst and hoped for the best. I was about to go to bed, when he pulled me aside and asked me. At first I thought he was just saying it to get some. But when I said no, he genuinely bowed, and kissed me softly goodnight. I knew that he just wanted to express his feelings, so I went and found him in his tent, and we had sex. It was quiet and slow. He snuck out at sunrise, there was a lady there who woke me the next morning, I had a small amount of blood on the sheets. I was so worried someone would see, but the lady simply tossed it into the fire and winked at me." She smiled at the memory of seeing him the next day, "How I learnt isn't exciting, they taught us in school at Kyoshi."

Toph felt a pang of annoyance, on that night, she went to tell Sokka how she felt. How she had had a crush on him ever since she joined the Gaang. When she couldn't find him, she returned to her tent saddened.

"I found out in school too. Also my mum sat me and all my sisters down and told us each time one of us turned thirteen. And well, my story isn't for the faint of heart…" she took a breath, she had never told anyone but now she wanted to let people in. "When I first joined the circus, I wasn't that great at stunts, I mean, I was always great, but the stage fright and pressure… And I was messing up quite a bit, and wasn't earning money. There was a juggler called Jo-Lou, and he offered to pay my rent, in exchange for sex. I was only twelve…" she was quiet for a while, "It only happened once, and then I trained harder than ever to avoid ever having to do it again. I started earning money and never went back to him."

Toph was silent. "You guys are making me not want to have sex." She laughed nervously. "How did you know what to _do_?"

She felt them looking at each other. "You don't."

…

"Are you going to the wedding?" Tao asked Jin, they were laying in the garden while Aang and Haru tried to fix Toph's damage. He had rolled out of his chair and was laying under a huge tree when she had come in to find Iroh, she had since forgotten why she came and remained with Tao.

"Yes, I am serving under Iroh's shop." She smiled, closing her eyes. She had grown quite attached to Tao and had developed a crush on him.

"Oh, I was hoping that we could go together." Tao sighed. Jin blushed and peeked at him from under her lashes. Aang was listening in on their conversation and smiled.

"You could still go together. I am sure that Iroh has other staff." He chirped, reshaping a rock into the ground so it was smooth again.

"Maybe you to could make a date of it?" Haru yelled, he trying to compact a stone back into the wall it was pulled from. He was having trouble figuring out how Toph had managed it. "Dinner, wedding, drinking? Sounds perfect." He grunted, then smiled as the stone complied.

"If Iroh could spare me that would be wonderful." Jin smiled. "What do you say?" she asked Tao. He blushed and looked at her.

"Sounds like a great idea." He smiled genuinely.

…

Zuko sat in the war room, it was the first time since being back that his friends hadn't been called to a meeting. He sat on his throne, letting the fire burn low. The generals sat at the table, the meeting hadn't officially started, so they were engaging in small talk. There were a few new faces that Zuko had added to his council, young people who shared positive views for the future, this was their first meeting and a test for them. Finally Iroh arrived, he walked in and sat at the table.

"Sorry I am late, the kitchen staff challenged me to Pai Sho an hour ago, I lost track of time." He chuckled.

"We should probably get started," a general said, "Fire Lord Zuko, the conditions for this meeting is that we express our feelings towards your choice of bride. We express concerns and/or convey approval. Do you understand?"

Zuko felt as though the man was condescending him, though he knew that he meant no harm. "I am well aware of the conditions of the meeting, General Ling. Shall we begin?"

One of the new councilmen stood and cleared his throat, "I would like to begin by conveying my congratulations, Fire Lord. I am Mo Lee. I personally had the pleasure of meeting your soon-to-be bride at the selection celebration, I found her to be loyal and respectful. I believe she will make a fine Fire Lady."

Zuko smiled, "Thank-you, you obviously have never been on her bad side." He laughed, his insecurity still wavering.

General Loou rolled his eyes at the young councilman, _he must be trying to secure his spot_, Loou thought bitterly, he stood, "Fire Lord Zuko," Zuko knew this was coming. "Your future bride," _here it comes, _"just destroyed half the palace garden! How can you expect her to be a suitable bride?!"

Zuko smiled, of course he would be against Toph, "She received some bad news, I did tell her that it would be preferred if she attacked the garden instead of the palace."

…

"So Toph, what exactly did your father say?" Suki asked, throwing the forth empty bottle of wine on the floor.

"I sent him a letter, with the help of Zuko, saying that I was engaged. The wedding was planned for seven days' time, we extended it so they could have more travel time." She sighed. "I guess I assumed they would be excited, I explained it was a custom for the parents to be showered with gifts and praise about their daughter… But they replied saying that they did not want to see their daughter become a traitor. I mean, I was so sure that they could want to come."

…

"Lady Toph?" Zuko smiled as he entered her room. The meeting was over and besides snide comments and pointless arguments, Zuko still intended on taking Toph as his bride.

"Spaaaaaarky!" she called, she stumbled out of the bathroom giggling, before tripping and stumbling into the bed, she continued to laugh. Zuko stared at her, he wasn't expecting her to be drunk.

"Toph? Where is everyone?" he asked shutting the door and walking towards her, taking the cup from her hand and placed it on her bedside table.

"They went to find their _lovers_. They are coming back after the guys leave." She collapsed onto the bed, Zuko smiled and sat next to her. She smiled up at him, looking towards his nose.

"You are quite the charmer when you are drunk. So, what were you guys discussing earlier? I heard a lot of laughter." Zuko asked, brushing her hair off her face, and tracing his finger from her forehead to her cheek.

Toph sighed, she wasn't drunk, she was rather tipsy, and the alcohol was definitely starting to work deeper, but she couldn't walk because her feet were asleep, causing her to stumble. "I am not drunk," she smiled, catching his hand on her cheek. "They were teaching me about sex." She said, trying to hide how nervous the topic now made her.

"Really? What did you learn?" He asked, a smile in his voice.

She bit down on her lip and sat up, she kept her eyes away from his, "Some stuff about my friends, and that it hurts." She mumbled.

"Oh," Zuko said, "Well, we aren't in any rush, we don't have to do anything until you are ready. I am sure we could work something for pain, and-", Toph had placed her hand over his mouth. He was misunderstanding, she wasn't scared for the pain. She was scared of being a disappointment. She kept her hand over his mouth and she straddled him, he was surprised but didn't comment on her behaviour, he couldn't, she kept her hand firmly over his mouth.

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, staring into the darkness. But somehow, it was the most intense feeling she had ever had. "Sparky, just shut up." She shoved him down onto the bed, she removed her hands and pushed her lips to his, she just wanted him to treat her like an earthbender, like a woman, not a girl, Zuko still didn't realize how tough she actually was. She ran her fingers through his hair, and hungrily kissed him. He complied, but was careful, not sure on where this would go. She growled against his lips, she was losing her patience with the Fire Lord, "Damn it, _Zuko_! Fight back!"

He smiled against her lips and rolled on top of her, he was still in his heavy formal robes, they engulfed them both in darkness, though Toph couldn't see, she could feel that something had stopped the cool air from getting in. "Usually, _I_ attack _you_." He smiled as he kissed her with as much force as she did him, she started to fumble with his buttons, but halfway through she lost her patience. She clenched her fist and writhed it away from her, causing the metal buttons and clasps to tear from his shirt and protective armour, she ran her hands across his stomach tracing the outlines of his chest and stomach, his body started to heat up.

He started to undo her buttons on her shirt, kissing down her neck as he headed down to her chest kissing softly and grazing his teeth across her alabaster skin. She tilted her head back and sighed his name softly, the kissing was sending shivers all over her. He listened to her saying his name and smiled against her chest, then he heard something behind him, laughter.

He stood up and turned to see Sokka with his hand over his mouth and Aang laughing quietly against the door, they hadn't even been there ten seconds, they were actually heading back out to give them privacy, but they had had alcohol too and were laughing before they reached the door. Zuko turned and made sure they couldn't see Toph as she redid her buttons. "Come on Fire Lord Can't-even-wait-two-more-days! We have celebrating to do!"

Zuko groaned and collapsed on the bed next to Toph. "I hate people." He whispered to her.


	13. Traditions

**Well! It's Wednesday might in Aus, that means... Update time!**

**This is dedicated to Mr Looker. He knows who he is.**

**As usual: R/R = Chapters**

"Aww! Come on Zuko! We didn't know you were getting all sexy in there! You told us to come get you when we were ready!" Sokka laughed, slapping Zuko on the shoulder before disappearing to the bar. Aang snorted into his drink at Sokka's comment, trying to hide his laughing. They were out at a noble restaurant, they were the only people in the drinking area, they all wore casual clothing. Aang hid his arrow under a bandana and Zuko let his scruffy hair fall onto his face, partly hiding his scar.

"FIRE SHOTS!" the Duke yelled, slamming down a tray of small finely crafted glasses, filled with a clear liquid with flames flickering on the surface. Aang picked up on of the glasses and twirled it in his fingers.

"It looks like water, is it?" Aang asked, he smelt it then coughed. "Whoa, not water!"

"Aang, you shot it, which is way they are called _shots_. Do not savour, just swallow!" Jet laughed picking one up blowing out the flame and shotting the small cup. He grimaced and then smiled, "Spiritual mother of-ack! I know why they are called 'fire shots'!" he laughed.

"Because they are on fire?" Zuko smiled, lifting it to his mouth, extinguishing the flames and swallowing, his eyes widened and his face contorted.

"Nope, because they burn like a bitch!" Jet laughed, punching Zuko in the shoulder.

"Let's get into it!" Longshot laughed as he, Tao and Aang downed their shots. The Duke smiled and downed his, before Sokka slid another tray of shots in front of them.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." He grinned at Longshot.

…

"Okay! The biggest? Maybe, eleven inches…" Ty Lee giggled. Toph fell backwards laughing and Katara rolled her eyes.

"Really? Being in a travelling circus, I would have thought you would have seen heaps bigger." Suki smiled and Mai snickering into her drink.

"Please, try fourteen and a half inches." Katara raised her eyebrow and smirked, there was no way she could beat that. Toph gave her a thumbs-up and Suki laughed. She looked at Ty Lee, waiting for a retort. Jin's mouth fell open, she had never seen any close to that size.

"Actually, Pipsqueak has an eighteen inch one." Smellerbee smiled wickedly. Katara and Ty Lee gaped at her.  
"No way!" They said in unison. "How do you know?!" Katara continued.

"I caused it," she grinned, "It was my first time using a sword! When I swung it, he was walking past. It was only a shallow cut, but it still scarred. So, I win! And get to pick the next question!"

Jin and Mai had joined the group of intoxicated women and were enjoying the question game. Originally Mai was not going to join Toph's party, but started to realize that she was acting like a petty school girl, but didn't care too much, she did want a good time though.

Mai looked sneakily at Toph who was leaning on Suki and laughing. She was trying to figure out where she could get poison on short notice, than she frowned slightly, _poison? Gee, can I get anymore lame. There would be a better way, surely_. She didn't actually want to brutally murder her, maybe an _accident_? The alcohol wasn't helping her level of annoyance towards Toph. Maybe if she could just embarrass her, turn Zuko on her.

"Well," Toph smiled and stood, swaying slightly and turning to her friends, "I say we blow this fire-sicle stand and take this party on the town like real women." She grinned widely and helped Suki to her feet.

"Hate to break in to you, but Fire Nation traditions for a bride state you stay inside the palace walls." Mai sighed, monotonously. Mai growled internally, _she would know that if she was Fire Nation_.

"Hate to break it to you, but I am not Fire Nation." Toph smirked back, crossing her arms across her chest. In doing this, she was ignoring everything Zuko had told her before he left, saying that wedding traditions are _especially_ important. Katara smiled and looked at Mai.

"She has a point," Katara stood and grabbed her bottle of wine from the ground, "Let's go!" She linked arms with Toph and Suki and swayed towards the door. Jin and Smellerbee laughed and followed, sharing a bottle of wine between them. At first Jin wasn't invited, but when Toph felt her walking past the door after bidding Tao a good night, she invited her to party. And they were glad Toph did, she had some great stories and was a fascinating individual, her and Smellerbee hit it off immediately.

Ty Lee stood and held her hand out to help Mai up, Mai ignored it and stood next to her. "She is going to embarrass the Fire Nation and Zuko."

"I think she just wants a good time, cause a bit of trouble and relax before tomorrow and the wedding day. It will be fun, please don't ruin this for everyone. Just have a good time." Ty Lee smiled politely when she spoke, but became pleading towards the end of the sentence.

Mai sighed and rolled her eyes, before Ty Lee grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. Mai smiled internally, _just how much trouble can this earthbender handle, I wonder_.

…

"-AND DON'T COME BACK!" the owner of the bar yelled, practically throwing Jet out into the dirt, he drunkenly pulled out his hooks, but Zuko stopped him. A girl across the bar was getting friendly with him and he started to flirt. They were getting along well, until the girl's boyfriend decided to intervene. He struck Jet and then Jet pushed him backwards, not realizing that the man Jet had just pushed was the bar owners son.

Jet put his hooks away as the door slammed shut. "Bleh! Your drinks were overpriced anyway!" he kicked dirt at the pub. "And your son hits like a girl!" the door swung open and two large men stepped out, one of which was the son, the group didn't think twice before bolting away.

"You know," Zuko puffed, "I actually plan to make it to the alter." After they had been running for a while, Aang shoved his head into a barrel of water and washed his face, Sokka still had a shot in his hand that he mannered to not spill, he swallowed it and laughed loudly, putting the glass in his pocket as a souvenir. Longshot fanned himself with his hat. Tao had broken out his chair's glider and Aang shot him with a blast of wind to help him escape. Haru earthbended a seat for himself and Zuko sat next to him. The Duke smiled and slapped Jet on the shoulder.

"I think you mean the wedding night, you cheeky Fire Lord, you!" Jet smiled, straightening up and smiling.

"Shush!" Zuko snarled, he didn't want anyone to know that it was him messing up the town.

"So! Do you even know how to _treat_ a lady?" Jet smiled, throwing his arm over Zuko as they walked towards a different bar.

"There is no way I am taking advice from you." Zuko laughed. Jet opened his mouth, shocked. The others laughed. Truth was, Zuko did have knowledge on the subject. His father had handed books to him when he turned thirteen, before he was banished. He had techniques and positions and anything else he could ever need. But he wanted to humour his friends, plus, he might learn something new. After all, the books were written by Fire Nation men, for Fire Nation men, about Fire Nation women.

…

The girls sat at a nice table in the private area of the restaurant. Toph rolled her eyes at the hinted comments they were making, they wanted to give her advice, but she didn't want any. Preferring to make up her own mind and experience everything that accompanies marriage without expectations added. But as the hints got more and more obvious, she caved.

"Fine! Fine! What advice and tips can you give me? Is that what you want?" She laughed. Ty Lee was overjoyed, but she silenced everyone.

"Wait! I need to grab more drinks, do not start until I get back!" She giggled and walked towards the bar.

…

Sokka grinned as Jet started to speak. "Women like a man that takes charge," Jet smirked, lighting up a thick Fire Nation cigar, "Helps them feel protected, makes you appear tougher and manlier." They were almost at another pub. Sokka smiled and nodded at Jet's comment. Tao was listening intensely.

…

Ty Lee place the two large trays on the table, one with Fire Shots and one with wine glasses. "Okay, first things first- men like to _think_ they have a say in what happens. They try to be dominant, but little do they know, it is the women who run the show."

"If it wasn't for us, they would be sitting in their candlelit rooms with their hands in their pants huffing like an exhausted Boar-Q-Pine." Smellerbee smiled, sipping from her drink. Suki spat her drink out with a laugh and Mai cracked a smile.

"It takes men a few minutes to reach release, we take quite a bit longer. If we aren't looking out for us, who is?" Ty Lee giggled, taking her shot.

…

"Women probably think we would just sit around and do it ourselves. But little do they know, they often cannot resist the charms of such handsome men like us." Sokka smiled. "If they don't want to have sex, fine. But when we use our _charms,_ how can they resist? We are too sexy." he flexed his arms on the word 'charms', Zuko laughed and Tao raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"Why do you need to show your muscles?" Tao asked.

"The woman cannot get enough of a man who shows confidence. Muscles send em crazy!" Jet laughed, punching Tao in the shoulder. Longshot raised an eyebrow, challenging Jet's statement.

…

"I always know when Sokka wants to get physical, he flexes his muscles 'subtly'…" Suki rolled her eyes, and giggled.

"It is the shy guys you need to watch out for," Katara smiled and nudged Toph, "They are the hardest to figure out what is going through their minds when they get started."

"I'll second that." Smellerbee smiled, she clinked her drink with Katara's. Jin blushed lightly, wondering if Tao was more shy than confident.

"You definitely don't want anyone who is over confident." Ty Lee smirked, finishing her drink and grabbing another. Jin, Mai and Toph were really the only ones who hadn't contributed too much to the conversation, more just laughing along or smiling at the other girls.

…

"I am telling you guys! Confidence, confidence, confidence!" Jet hit his fist on the table each time he said 'confidence'. Again, Longshot raised his eyebrow. The Duke smiled and translated.

"You need to work with what they want. Don't be selfish." The Duke got an approving nod from Longshot for translating and beamed.

"Be respectful." Aang said, _like you weren't_, a voice in the back of his mind growled.

…

"I know! We should show you some great sex _moves_!" Suki shouted caught up in the moment of her great idea, half the restaurant turned towards the table. Toph snorted into her drink and Mai covered her face. A short man walked timidly over to the table and spoke low and quickly. He had been lingering near the girls for an hour, trying to gather courage.

"Erm, ladies, I am afraid I need to ask you to leave… I mean this is a noble restaurant and conversations like that are not suitable-"

"For the delicate skin of the Fire Nation?" Smellerbee smiled, standing and finishing her drink. "You don't have to ask me twice, this place is boring." Jin covered her mouth, not wanting to offend the owner by laughing while Toph threw her head back and laughed loudly. She too, stood and grinned at the man. He did a double take and realized who she was.

"You are the girl that Fire Lord chose, over my own." His face turned red, not that Toph could see, but even in her intoxicated state, she felt him step towards her and his heart increase out of anger, "You dare show yourself here?! You earthbending witch! Go back to where you cam-" he didn't have time to finish, Toph had encased his entire body, a foot thick in stone, up to his neck in with a stomp of her foot. The restaurant was silent, a few women screamed at the sudden outburst. Toph turned and walked back towards him, she picked up a glass of wine from the table and took a sip.

"I don't think insulting the world's greatest earthbender… Wait, world's greatest _bender_ is… Wise." Toph smiled sweetly. Mai's jaw dropped open, she was surprised by the amount of respect the earthbending brat had accidentally acquired from her.

"You are a freak, you will probably curse the nation with a disabled child! If there is something wrong with the mother, something will be wrong with the child." He snarled. Toph's smile disappeared, she growled and raised the glass and dumped the remainder of her wine on his head.

"Better than being like everyone else." She smirked anger causing her voice to come out raspy, she turned and walking away, secretly wounded by his words. "I'm outta here."

…

"How can we _show _you?" Katara sighed. Someone, in a moment of forgetfulness recommended drawing them. Toph simple laughed and agreed it was a _great _idea.

The group had arrived back at the palace and were sitting in Toph's room, they had been out longer than they had originally thought and had decided to let the wine start to leave there systems. It wasn't doing much so far. Besides boring them, wine always accompanied countless ideas.

"How about drawing them on the floor?" Suki shrugged, "Can you see this?" she traced a spiral onto the stone floor.

"Not really, it is just vibrations." Toph exhaled, blinking at the blackness.

"I KNOW!" Jin yelled, everyone jumped, "Act them out!" Jin laughed. Everyone stared at her with blank expressions. "I will show you," she swayed as she got to her feet, "Toph, what am I doing?"

"Losing it?" Toph chuckled, but the lowered her eyebrows, "You are standing on one foot, your arm raised. Quite impressive considering the amount of wine you have consumed."

"See? Toph can see actions if we are attached to the stone floor! What am I doing now?" Jin stumbled over to Ty Lee and wrapped her arms around her.

"Hugging Ty Lee, I can see her heartbeat and the echoes of your movements, so what?"

Jin giggled slightly and realised Ty Lee, "If two people acted out the positions, you would be able to see it!"

There was silence. Ty Lee burst out in laughter, "I think she has just solved our problem. Ha, well, come here. I have the perfect on to start with!"

They could hardly contain their laughter as Jin tried to lay still on the ground and Ty Lee straddled her. "You should at least buy her dinner first…" Smellerbee laughed. That was the end of everyone's composure, Ty Lee fell off Jin and rolled on the floor with laughter, Katara threw her head back and laughed while Toph collapsed onto the floor and shook. Mai laughed softly, until Ty Lee collected herself and resumed her first lesson.

"Now, Jin is Zuko," Mai lost her smile, Toph sat up and wiped her eyes, "I am you, you get on like this…" Ty Lee straddled Jin again, they started to laugh, "And trust me, you will know what comes next." Toph could see the vibrations from their laughter and saw how they were positioned, she cocked her head to the side.

"I think I got it…" She laughed. "Do they have names? The different moves?"

"Trust me, you won't be thinking about names…" Suki laughed, "I got one to show!"

…

"What do you think the girls are doing?" Aang asked Sokka, they were heading back to the palace, Aang was wheeling Tao, too drunken to push himself quickly. Zuko and Longshot had a drunken Jet between them, partly carrying him back, he was fine to walk on his own, but he kept breaking things, so they made sure he couldn't go far.

"I can't imagine too much, Fire Nation tradition says they have to stay in their room or the palace walls and celebrate." Zuko grunted as he repositioned Jet.

Sokka snorted, "You think that'll stop Toph? She hates rules."

"I doubt she would disrespect Fire Nation Tradition this important." Zuko smiled.

"Err, you might want to reconsider those doubts…" The Duke smiled, upon translating Longshot's nodding into words and looking at the palace gates. There were four guards encased in stone up to their necks, another was laying, chi blocked on the ground, two were trying to melt the ice from another guard, they only just managed to melt themselves out. Zuko's mouth dropped open, _Oh shit_.

Haru swayed slightly then stomped his foot, causing the trapped guards to be freed, Aang pulled the water from the frozen guard and the guards uniforms. "Fire Lord Zuko," one of the guards bowed, "how was your evening?"

"Who did this?" Zuko asked, he knew the answer.

"Erm, er, Lady Toph and her accompanying party, we tried to explain they needed to remain inside… She meant no harm, only wanting to have fun…" The guard liked Toph, thought she was a wonderful choice, so he didn't want her to get in trouble.

"Where are they now?" Zuko said, he was angry, but didn't let it show.

"They returned not an hour ago," the guard said, "a servant came to alert us, so we wouldn't have to search. They came over the south wall. Apparently, given their state, it was an impressive sight to see."

…

"Zuko, you will regret this." Aang tried to say, again. "She meant no harm, she just wanted to enjoy herself, how do you know it was her idea?"

Zuko was mad, he had emphasized the importance of wedding traditions. "Zip-it Guru Goody-Goody. She disobeyed me." The alcohol in his system didn't help his mood.

Sokka smirked, "Don't say that to her, she will tear you to shreds. After all these years, have you forgotten who you are dealing with?" Sokka caught up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "This is the Blind Bandit, the Runaway, only daughter of the Bei Fong's, the Avatar's Sifu, the best earthbender in the world, the first metalbender… _Melon Lord_!" Zuko wasn't listening.

"Seriously, don't start a fight two days before your wedding." Haru chuckled, pushing Tao. The Duke and Longshot were walking with Jet, he was retelling his version of the bar fight for the fifth time.

"She still did what I asked her not to." He pushed on her doors and they flew open, "Toph, you are in trou- what the fuck?" Suki had Ty Lee's legs wrapped around her waist in the middle of the floor. They were all laughing, turns out they decided they needed more wine after all.

Sokka stood next to Zuko and let his eyes adjust, his jaw dropped. "Is this a dream? If so, best dream ever…" he whispered to Haru. He nodded in agreement.

…

He pulled her into his office and slammed the huge stone door, the portrait of him and his mother slanted with the force of the door. His bride-to-be stood against his large desk, pouring herself another glass of wine, he stalked towards her and snatched it from her hand, throwing it against the wall. Toph pursed her lips and glowered sightlessly at him.

"Do you know how much trouble you are in?" he snarled at her. She rolled her sightless eyes at him.

"None of those guards were actually injured, and the bar owner deserved to be embarrassed." She sighed. Zuko's eyes widened, he hadn't known of a bartender, his anger spiked.

"I was referring to the fact that I told you what was _expected_ of the future Fire Lady and you didn't fucking listen! Do you ever listen?!" He yelled, pacing back and forth.

"Pfft, whatever Sparky, I don't know if you have noticed, but I am never what is _expected_." She crossed her arms across her chest. Zuko paused and looked at her, her muscles on her arms were lean and strong, she had her jaw set in stubbornness and she had wine on her clothes. Yet she still managed to look stunning. This only made him madder, he wouldn't let her avoid his anger.

"It is Fire Nation tradition-"

"How many times do I have to point this out?! _I AM NOT FUCKING FIRE NATION!_" she yelled, a crack appeared in the wall behind her.

"Gah! How do you expect the nation to approve of you if you can't even respect the culture?!" He yelled again, throwing his arms in the air and slamming them on the desk.

She snarled at him and stomped towards him, "Listen here, Sparky," she stomped her foot and earth raised her to his height, "I don't care who you are or what your damn nation thinks of me. I don't need their approval and I sure as hell don't fucking need yours!"

"I am your husband! You will respect my culture! As I will yours!" he roared.

"You aren't my husband yet!" she scowled. Zuko didn't speak for a second, mentally slapping himself for allowing that trip.

"It slipped out." He said coldly, and he turned away from her. He walked towards the picture of his mother and himself, he straightened it. It slanted again as soon as he released it. He exhaled steam, his temper was like a volcano. "Sometimes you just make me want to… Urg!"

"What, you think I can't take your anger? If you haven't noticed, Sparky, I am not exactly a poor little fire nation noble, I can stand my fucking ground against the likes of you!"

He didn't think as he turned and marched towards her, he grabbed the tops of her arms and pushing her roughly against the wall, his mother's portrait fell, he ignored it. Toph glared up at him, not even fazed by his outburst. "Be a fucking man and do it." She snarled up at him.

"Do what?" He rumbled, tightened his grip on her.

"Take me, Zuko." She growled angrily back.


	14. Ideas

**Merry Christmas! I hope everyone got spoilt, I hope this new chapter doubles as a gift to you all. (I am looking at you, especially **_**Devvy**_**)**

**One quick note: I was hoping no one would notice, but alas, some clever chook has- I realised in chapter 6 that I had been spelling Teo, **_**Tao… **_**But I decided to stick with the 'a' as my spell check automatically corrects it. But it took long enough for anyone to notice. Ha ha.**

**Anyway, see you all next Wednesday.**

**Stay honest. Don't forget R=R!**

Aang had sobered, he had kind of cheated.

He had learnt after an interesting conversation with Fire Sage Shyu that Avatar Kuruk was able to escape his intoxicated and/or hungover condition by going into the Avatar state, something the _go-with-the-flow_ Avatar had learnt on his travels, and no doubt the Avatars before him. As the Avatar state was able to keep Aang alive for a hundred years by keeping his body working in peak condition, Shyu believed it was possible. At least which is what Aang thought Shyu had said, he couldn't remember as Tao had broken the table during that conversation, effectively ending it too soon.

Aang decided it was worth a shot.

He walked into bathroom in Toph's room and looked in the mirror, he concentrated briefly and felt the feeling of the Avatar state wash over him. He opened his eyes and smiled, he didn't feel anything, no alcohol in his system, no dizziness and everything was saying in its spot. It must have worked, _Kuruk was a genius_, the seventeen year old airbender smirked. He wish he had known at the Western Air Temple.

He walked back out and looked at his friends, Zuko and Toph had been gone for a while but most of his friends were still in her room. Jet was passed out on the floor next to the door and Tao and Jin were involved in a very deep and humorous looking discussion. Katara, Suki, Sokka, Haru and the Duke were talking loudly about their night and Smellerbee and Longshot had left not long after Toph and Zuko.

Mai was standing next to the door between Jet's unconscious state and Tao and Jin's conversation, occasionally she would add something to their conversation. Aang noted Mai was looking rather, well bored, but more bored than usual. She seemed to be drunk and started to nod off near the door, Aang walked towards her and leant next to her.

"Hey Aang." She sighed.

"Do you want to go home?" He decided to ask her directly, he didn't want her to collapse on the floor. She nodded and turned for the door, Aang slipped out with her. It had been a long time since the two had had a conversation, they walked in silence for a while before Aang spoke.

"So," Aang started, "I have been practicing the knife throwing, Sokka still smashes me, but it has been a while since you trained us." No answer, the corner of her mouth turned up in a smile. She took out four knives from her sleeves and handed two to Aang. "You took them out for a girl's night?"

"Meh, you never know when I might need them." She replied nonchalantly, throwing a knife to pin a stray leaf to the stone pillar, as she walked past she pulled it out. Aang threw one of his and hit a crack in the wall, not his aim, but he still thought it was lucky.

"Even when you are drunk you are still better at this!" he exclaimed, as she hit a tile in the dead centre. "Excited for the wedding?" Aang asked, there was two guards walking ten paces behind them, and even they saw Mai shudder. Aang didn't see because he pulled his first knife from the wall and threw his second.

"Not really," she sighed, drunk enough to not mind tell the Avatar _part_ of the truth, "I think they will kill each other, or someone else will just to get some peace… Nah, they are going to kill each other."

…

Zuko blinked, not sure what he heard or what Toph was saying. His anger temporarily faltered, he could feel his heart speed up and he knew that she could too. He pulled back and looked at her, her stubborn jaw, her strong arms and body. The way he was holding the tops of her arms, the fabric across her chest was taut and looked as though the buttons would shoot off in all directions, his eyes lingered, he could see her nipples pushing against the fabric, he bit into his lip. The wine and the amount of shots he had taken were not helping his composure. He released her arms and took a step back.

…

Toph inhaled after she spoke and had been holding her breath from the moment the words left her lips, she couldn't believe she had said it aloud. "_Take me, Zuko._" echoed in her mind, he still had a grip on her, there was silence between the pair. She was sure he would be furious, after what he had just yelled at her about traditions, she told him to break one of the biggest. She was going to cop it. She refused to break her appearance, keeping her jaw strong and her eyes narrow. He released her arms, blood pulsed through where Zuko's arms had constricted her arms, almost painful.

She exhaled. His heart had not slowed down, she tried to get a reading on his body, not sure if his temper still flared. He didn't give Toph much time to think before he spoke.

"If that is what you want." Zuko growled at her. He took her hand and pulled her out of his office and towards his room, his hand was hot around hers. He pushed against his door and turned to the guards, "Don't let us be disturbed." He said in a cold tone.

Toph still hadn't comprehended what was going on, they just exploded at each other about tradition, _he wouldn't go through with it_. She knew he wouldn't, but she wasn't going to be the one that backed down first. She was almost thrown onto the bed, _he'll back down soon, tradition is too important to him_, she thought as he removed his shirt and lowered his body onto hers, his hands tangled in her hair as he crushed his lips to hers, she shivered as his tongue pushed into her mouth. He moved his mouth to her neck and started to undo the buttons on her shirt, Toph remained calm, they had done this before, and she wasn't taking him seriously. He continued down her neck and further down her chest as he undid the buttons, one of her hands were in his hair and her the fingers of the other lingered on his scar tissue. He pushed the fabric away from her chest exposing her small round breasts. He kept his eyes closed, he had a plan.

…

"Thanks Aang," Mai said at her door, "I couldn't figure out how to escape, I like our friends, but sometimes I like quiet. And sleep."

"No problem. Hey Mai?" Aang said cautiously, "You still like Zuko, don't you." It was more a kind statement than a question. Mai frowned.

"I guess I didn't realize what I had." She almost growled, then she thought for a while. "Maybe I will just have to get over it, they will have enough issues without me hating me." She made it sound easier than what it would actually be. "Not to mention, I am starting to feel bad for how she won't be able to experience certain experiences like everyone else." Mai sighed. She was rambling, Aang had accidentally opened the flood gates that hold her thoughts, and her state meant she could express them and not care who too. She could be chatting with Toph for all she cared.

"W-what do you mean?" Aang was confused, _Toph is just as normal as everyone else_, Aang thought.

"Imagine not being able to _see_ your wedding day, your husband, sex." She shrugged, "I mean, it would suck." She realized her ramblings were starting to make her seem weak. She decided it was time to leave, she stood took her knives back and kissed Aang on the cheek, "Whoa, sorry Aang. It is custom to kiss an escorter before leaving, old habits. Not romantic." She smirked, then sighed. "See you at the wedding."

"Bye Mai." He honestly didn't notice the kiss, he was immersed in his thoughts, he turned and walked back with the guards, they weren't scared of Aang like they were Mai. They walked directly alongside him. "I never realized," Aang began, thinking about Toph never seeing Zuko, or maybe their first child, her wedding, her reflection, "Ever since I met her, I never actually dwelled on the fact that she is blind. Sure, she reminded us when we asked to show her something, but it happened so often. Because…" The guard to his right half-heartedly smiled.

"She doesn't seem it." He said. The guard on his left nodded in agreement. Aang settled deeply into his thoughts. Imagining how great it would be if the Avatar had the power to give sight, _healing permanent injuries, birth defects_… He was thinking about Tao when he said injuries and then screwed his nose up when he thought of the words 'birth defect' to describe Toph. _She isn't defected, she is awesome_, he thought. A guard interrupted his thoughts.

"Pity there isn't a spirit or a power you could summon or learn to help." The younger one on the left mumbled. Aang stopped walking and stared at the guard.

"What did you say?" he asked.

The guard assumed he had offended the Avatar, as Aang wasn't smiling, "I-I am sorry, I didn't mean to overstep bound-" He had only been working for a week and a half, not wanting to lose his job he was mentally freaking out.

"No, no," Aang interrupted, "you aren't in trouble. What did you say?"

"Exactly? Erm, '_shame there isn't a spirit or a power you could summon or learn to help'_. Or did I say '_pity'_? I think I said 'pity'…"

"You said 'pity'." The right guard said.

Aang looked down at the wooden pendants he wore around his neck that represented each nation, twisting the wooden earth symbol tile around in his fingers. He looked back to the confused guards faces, an idea striking him like an Earth Rumble VI competitor. "Take me to the most spiritual place in the Fire Nation Capital. Right now."

"With all due respect, Avatar Aang." The right guard said, "You should rest, it is very late. Or actually, early."

"There is no way I can sleep with this idea rolling around in my head. I can sleep tomorrow." Aang smirked. The guards bowed and gestured for him to follow as they lead the excited Avatar towards the palace.

…

Zuko hovered his mouth over Toph's breast, she could feel his breath against her skin, creating goose-bumps. By this point he had her hands pinned by her sides, he was teasing her. Her head was still clouded with alcohol and her temper was still rising. He had been lightly kissing her breasts, meaning to drive her insane. His warm lips enclosed over her small brown nipple for the first time during this experience, Toph gasped, Zuko ran his particularly warm tongue over the nub and she moaned softly.

He smiled, his anger almost melting away, softly he began to kiss down her chest and across her stomach, she was breathing quickly and deeply, and a thin layer of sweat was visible in the candlelight. Zuko was starting to consider that maybe he is the one being teased. He ran his tongue gently across her warm skin just above her shorts, he edged them down and begun to kiss her slowly. Her breathing was coming out ragged and uneven.

Toph was trying to not get her hopes up, _holy hell he is making it difficult_, he moved her shorts further and further down. Kissing lower and lower. _He will stop soon, he wouldn't break tradition,_ she thought, not that she wanted him to stop. Ever.

He bit the soft skin at the top of her thigh, she gasped and balled her hands into fists as the spark flew through her. He smiled again, _that's enough_, he thought as he moved slowly back up her body and lingered on her neck. He was stopping, she knew it. She was simmering under the surface, her temper had caused her face to go ruby in colour.

Her full temper came back, she was just as furious as in his office. "I thought you wanted to prove your manliness." She growled coldly, she knew that it wasn't exactly correct, but she was too pissed off to care.

"I _am_ proving my manliness. I will take you, after we respect my culture and your own." He smiled, his smile widen as she ground her teeth together and tried to hit him, but Zuko kept her hands firmly by her sides.

"At the Western temple, you took my shorts off on our first rendezvous… What were you planning to do then?"

"I think you need to sleep." He smirked, not knowing how to answer the question. He honestly didn't know why he did, the heat of the moment and the excitement was the most plausible answer.

"I think you suck." The alcohol was starting to swarm her, she cussed herself for her lame comeback, _even Sokka could do better_, she scolded. Zuko was still annoyed when he thought back to their fight, she had a point, she wasn't Fire Nation. But he couldn't help thinking if she disregarded this tradition, what else would she go against?

He sighed as he scooped the drunken earthbender into his arms and placed her under the covers and blew out the candles, he slept above the covers and listened to her breathing and the odd insult. It wasn't long before her insults became slurred and eventually stopped, her breathing became even and he found it relaxing. He though back to their first experience in the air temple, wandering, what he would have done if Sokka hadn't of interrupted? He dwelled on this until sleep pulled him under.

…

Longshot leaned against the window frame and gazed out over the palace garden. Smellerbee snored softly in their bed, she rolled over and mumbled his name. He smiled and turned to look at her, he knew she was still asleep. His eyes traced over her body, tangled in the sheets with the moon shining off her body, debating whether he should wake her for another session of passion. He let the cool night air wash over his naked body, the window sill was high enough that he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing anything.

Smellerbee sighed and rolled over again, Longshot watched as her hand ran over her bare breast in her sleep, Longshot smiled and started to walk back towards the bed. But the voice of Aang caught his attention from the garden.

Aang was practically running with two guards across the palace garden, Longshot raised an eyebrow. He turned and grabbed his bow, quiver and hat, he was about to leap out of the second storey window when he felt a cooler breeze. _Ah, pants. Rousing Smellerbee will have to wait_. He huffed a laugh and pulled on a pair of pants before jumping out and landing skilfully on the balls of his feet with a soft _thud_.

He stalked after Aang and the guards, wanting to make sure that there was nothing bad going on. Aang heard someone '_psst_' and turned telling the guards to stop, Longshot tipped his hat and walked quickly to catch up with the Avatar. He shrugged his shoulders with emphasis, hoping Aang would be able to understand without Longshot talking too much.

"What is going on?" Aang asked, guessing what Longshot was asking, he beamed when Longshot nodded, confirming what the Avatar guessed. "Oh, this guard gave me a great idea for a wedding present. _Sight._"

Longshot raised an eyebrow at the Avatar. He acknowledged that Aang knew Toph tenfold to him, but something made him not so sure that the Avatar was thinking straight. He sighed and spoke, knowing only the Freedom Fighters who be able to translate what he was about to say. "Sight? Aang, are you sure that is a good idea?"

Aang was taken aback by Longshot. "Why wouldn't it be? I mean, don't you think giving her sight would make her happy?" Longshot pursed his lips and scowled, not aggressively but like Aang had missed something, which in Longshot's mind, he had. "What? I can't understand your expression, Longshot." Aang smirked.

"Being blind is what makes Toph who she is. She turned what others consider a weakness into a strength. I feel that by giving her sight, you aren't acknowledging her power or personality. What you and I might see as a gift, she _might_ see as an insult..."

Aang blinked. That was the longest speech Longshot had ever made in his presence. Aang opened his mouth briefly but closed it again. He hadn't thought about the possibility of Toph rejecting such a gift. "I didn't think about it that way." Aang clapped his hand into a fist and made a stone shoot out of the ground, then offered Longshot a spot next to him.

Longshot sat next to him. "I could be wrong, but what if she loses some of her skill because her vision interferes with her seismic sense? I mean you have seismic talent, but even when in the Avatar state, your talent of feeling the earth is still… Well, not Toph. Perhaps it is because she has learnt to live without sight, and she has learnt to use the remaining senses equally, as sight is our most dominant sense, we rely mostly on that." Aang took it back what he had thought, _that_ was the longest speech he had ever heard Longshot give.

"What about if I could find a way for her to see, but only for a period of time? Just so she could see us, and Zuko. Colours and Appa. The sky, her own bending…"

"What if, by giving her a short period of sight, you accidentally give her a taste of something she will never have again?" Longshot mumbled. Aang sighed sadly. "It is worth a shot to see if you can get it. Then we can go from there." Longshot said, slapping Aang on the shoulder. Aang nodded in agreement.

…

Aang rolled his eyes, he was in the darkest part of the spirit world and still trying to convince a kimono-wearing-rhino to give him directions. "… Of course, there was the time when the spirit of instinct and logic had a figh-"

"I am sorry to interrupt but I really need help finding-"Aang tried to talk but the rhino continued to talk over the top of him. _Monkey feathers, I will never find a helpful spirit_.

"-t, luckily the spirit of healing was there, she fixed the both up." The rhino paused to inhale from a long pipe. Aang raised an eyebrow.

"Spirit of healing?" _maybe letting the rhino ramble will resolve in a location_.

He let out a cloud of orange smoke and continued, "Yes, I usually visit her, she sits with her orbs and meditates on miracles that need to be-"

"Where can I find her?" Aang tried to keep his head, but the rhino was proving to be difficult.

"That way," the rhino pointed a finger at a dark track, "she sits beneath the luminous boa tree. Now lemme tell you about-"

"I am extremely sorry, but I must go." Aang ran down the path that was flanked by multi-coloured glowing plants, small spirits stalked amongst the cover.

The rhino tried to yell, "WAIT! AVATAR! WAIT!," The rhino huffed when he realised the Avatar was gone, "Silly boy, he should know that she likes to have someone announce their presence before they come into view… I remember the time someone walked straight up to her and she slit their throat. Har har, well lucky she is the spirit of healing I guess."

…

Aang slowed to a walk when the rhino's voice faded. There was so much to see, and as much as he loved to take in the sights and sounds, he had business.

He felt as though he had been walking for at least an hour when he saw it. There was a violet glow at the end of the path, he slowed his pace, not wanting to frighten an unsuspecting spirit. He rounded the corner and gasped.

She was one of the most beautiful sights that he had ever seen, she meditated in the roots of a boa tree, the leaves above were violet and deep purple, glowing beautifully. See was a perfect shade of blue, she wasn't glowing like the leaves, but she had a pearlescent quality to her skin. She had four slender arms, the extra pair came from her thin waist. All around her were small balls of white light, suspended in the air, every now and then the balls would move slightly. Aang took a step towards the beautiful spirit woman, he trod on a stick and the sound echoed. The spirit opened her yellow, glowing eyes, she stared at the young Avatar and snarled.

…

Jin was slowly falling asleep on Tao's shoulder, he had slid out of his chair and Jin had collected pillows and spare blankets from Toph's bed. They sat against the wall, the room was dark and everyone just slept where they had fallen. He had his arm around her and was gently rubbing her arm. He could feel himself drifting off, he felt Jin square her shoulders, and he turned his head drunkenly towards her.

"Ow!" she laughed as their foreheads collided. Jin giggled and rubbed her head and Tao tried to chuckle masculinely, but gave up and just giggled with her. Their giggles faded, Tao kept a small smile on his lips, he saw Jin's eyes glance at his mouth then back to his eyes. His smile slowly disappeared as he leant down, he hesitated.

Jin took a short breath in as Tao hesitated millimetres from her lips, she smiled softly as she closed the gap. Pushing her lips to his, the kiss lasted a second, before Jin pulled back and smiled softly, blushing. Tao lifted his hand and shaped it to her cheek before leaning back down and kissing her again. Jin sighed softly as Tao carefully parted his lips against hers and deepened the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him control where the contact was going.

He moved his hand down to her neck and then up into her hair, kissing her softly. She tightened her grip around his neck, causing him to lose balance and fall onto her. They broke apart and laughed softly, Jin helped Tao lay straight and she lay next to him amongst the pillows, they lay next to each other and kissed once more, before Jin wriggled into his arms.

"Just so you know, I am falling for you." Jin whispered sleepily. Yawning daintily and closing her eyes.

"I think I have fallen already." Tao sighed, closing his.

…

The spirit of healing glared at Aang. Aang slowly lifted his hands, meaning to respectfully bow to the beautiful spirit. She saw him raise his hands and in a flash leap onto the young Avatar, pinning his arms by his side with the arms from her waist and holding a golden blade to his neck. Her eyes flashed and her snarl got louder. She pushed the blade against Aang's neck and he felt it pierce the skin. He gasped.

She was about to plunge the knife in when the spirit quickly glanced his forehead and started to gaze intently at the arrows, as quick as the attack had happened, she was back under her tree. "Did the rhino not warn you how to approach me, airbender?" she said in a deep voice, it still managed to come out like honey, despite the rasp.

"I left, I was eager to find you." Aang said, slowly sitting up and bowing from his position on the ground.

"You are lucky you are and Air Nomad, I have a soft spot for your nationality." She spoke slowly, the orbs shifted slightly. "I usually just kill whoever does not announce themselves."

Aang controlled his features, "Why?" he didn't want to sound rude, not wanting to get on the spirits bad side.

"They try to take my orbs, thinking it will give them what they seek." She closed her eyes and folded her hands gently in her lap. "I find it interesting that you have not asked my name." she opened one eye and watched Aang's reaction.

He smiled lightly, "May I enquire after your name?" Aang felt a pang of guilt, _am I seriously trying to flirt with a spirit_? An image of Katara flashed into his mind.

"No." The spirit smiled as she closed her eye again, satisfied with Aang's response. Aang noted how quickly she had gone from hostile to joking, and was intent on making sure she didn't revert back to hostile.

Aang lowered his eyebrows in frustration. He sat and silently meditated, focusing his energy on the task at hand, he turned phrases around in his head, trying to find the right one to use. When he was satisfied with a choice of words, he opened eyes. Less than two inches from his face, was the spirit's own face, her eyes glowing a bright yellow.

Aang forgot everything he was going to say and held completely still. She slowly reached her hand and placed it on his neck, where she had pierced the skin, Aang felt a sharp pain and winched very lightly. The spirit pulled back her hand, it was stained with his blood. She retreated to her boa tree and watched as the confused Avatar touched his neck, the wound was closed. He looked up in time to see the spirit studying the blood.

She cautiously wiped her finger across the blood and using it, drew a line from her underarm to the back of her hand. It was only when she added the final touch of an arrow head, that Aang realised she was mimicking his own tattoos. He stared at the faded blood line on her arm and watched as it sunk into her skin. "I miss my own tattoos." She explained as she saw the confused look on Aang's face.

"You were an Air Nomad?" Aang's mouth made a popping sound as it fell open. He found it creepy that she used his blood to redraw them, but didn't act on it. _I suppose people deal with separation and loss differently? What a strange spirit._

"A long time ago. Now, Avatar Aang, I know what you seek."

"What? How?" he asked, shocked. He was sure he hadn't introduced himself. The spirit gestured at the blood.

"It has everything I need to find out if an individual is worthy of my… Talents." She half-smiled. Aang was starting to realise that this spirit wasn't like others. Not condescending, a thoughtful joker. _Sokka would like this one_, Aang thought.


	15. Scrubba Dub Dub

**Happy New Year!**

**You know how it works.**

**Enjoy!**

Something warm slithered over her waist, it gradually gained heat. Before long it was hot, scolding, she tried to remove it, she couldn't feel her surroundings, couldn't control her arms. Their voices filled her ears, Sokka yelling and crying, the sound of him being beaten. A loud crash echoed and she heard Haru grunt as he realised his earthbending on the men. Katara and Aang working as a team to remove the men and help her and Sokka. Zuko's ragged heartbeat filled the room with his furious shouts. Then there was strong, warm arms wrapped around her. The sounds faded as his heartbeat grew stronger.

…

Toph stirred, she opened her eyes and rolled over, her head hurt and she could feel that she was a mess. She ran her hand over her side, Katara had healed the attempt to remove Miko from herself, she sighed, then growled. She threw her arms out, searching for Zuko. The bed was empty, _where is he?_ She asked herself, moving her hands further towards his side of the bed, she couldn't hear him. "Sparky?!" she called.

"Ah, Lady Toph, how are you this morning?" Taki asked as he entered Zuko chambers. "I am Taki, one of Zuko's servants. He is with the craftsmen making your ring currently. Though he will be back to do activities with you later. How exciting! I wonder what he will choose for you to do?! Perhaps something romantic? No doubt traditional!"

Toph blinked, she looked where the voice was coming from and raised an eyebrow. "Quite the talker, aren't you." She smirked.

"Indeed, Lady Toph. Always been a talker. Probably always will be. Now, get up and changed, we have stuff to organise!"

"I suppose privacy is out of the question?" Toph grumbled when she realized that Taki had placed a pile of clothes on the end of the bed and hadn't left the room.

"I can leave if you want, but there is no need for you to be embarrassed, I do not feel inclined to be attracted to women." Taki beamed. She sighed then started to edge towards the edge of the bed.

"Who do you like then?" Toph asked, carefully lowering herself onto solid ground, she turned and started undressing.

"My husband. He is my rising sun." Taki smiled, helping Toph into a lose dress and tying a ribbon around her waist. Toph smiled. "There! Now let's get under way. We have the dress fitting, the shoe selection, make-up trials, and menu and beverage approval… And that is all before Lunch-"

"Am I allowed to bring company?" Toph interrupted. Taki smiled and linked his arm with hers.

"That is our first stop, Lady Toph." He laughed as they walked towards the door, careful not to make her think he was leading her. Zuko warned that she is perfectly able to look after herself and not to challenge that.

They walked from Zuko's chambers towards the visitor's end of the palace. Toph smiled as she felt all her friends sleeping bodies all over the floor of her room, _they mustn't of made it out before passing out_, Toph smirked. Taki swung the door opened, blasting light in the faces of her friends.

"Time to rise and _shhhiiinnnnnnnne_!" Taki called, Katara growled in response and Suki covered her face with a pillow. Sokka sat up and rubbed his eyes, punching Haru in the arm to wake him up. Ty Lee had had made her way to Toph's bed. Jin and Tao were nowhere to be seen and Jet was in the same place he had been left. The Duke wandered out from the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around him. "Everyone needs to be cleaned and fed!" Taki continued.

"What, where is Aang?" Katara asked, looking around the room. "And Mai?"

"And Longshot and Smellerbee?" Jet yawned, holding his head in one hand and his other caressing his stomach.

"Shit! I am late!" Sokka realized, scrambling to his feet and pulling his shirt on. He kissed Suki quickly and ran out the door, "See you all later!" he called.

"I know Jin and Tao went out for breakfast." The Duke said after Sokka had left, walking back into the bathroom to get dressed. "And Aang and Mai left last night. Not long after Toph, Zuko, Longshot and Bee." He called from the bathroom.

"They left together?" Katara asked.

"Uh-huh." The Duke yelled, "The cheater sobered himself and offered to walk her home. He hasn't returned." The Duke didn't realize that he shouldn't say things that plant suspicion in a woman's mind. Katara scowled.

…

"It needs to be metal." Zuko sighed. "Something she can feel, bend, control." The craftsmen were not listening. His head ached and his temper was flaring.

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooood morning, Fire Lord Zuuuuuuuuko!" Sokka yelled as he entered the craftsmen shop. Sokka considered himself an expert of crafting and offered his services, Zuko accepted. He was glad to have a friend, he couldn't find Aang who he also wanted to come, but one loud, happy person was enough for now. Zuko screwed his nose as Sokka's voice ripped through his skull, intensifying his headache.

"Gold is beautiful! All women like gold!" One craftsmen called from the other end of the shop, he was bend over a fine necklace he was adding details too.

"Toph can't bend pure metals." Zuko sighed again. Massaging his head.

"Why does it need to be bendable?" Sokka mumbled, he pulled out a bag of Fire Flakes and shoved a whole handful in his mouth, he offer the bag to Zuko. "Wan' soum?" Zuko raised his hand and shook his head, politely refusing, Sokka smiled, "Grrrrrate hungover cura!"

Zuko raised his eyebrows and suddenly thrust his hand into the bag and shoved a handful into his mouth, ignoring the burn. "So, she can see it. That is why it needs to be bendable." Zuko mumbled.

"What about, a polished metal? It could be polished to _look_ like silver or gold?" Sokka asked, pulling a second bag of Fire Flakes from his pocket. "Not that Toph will care what it actually _looks _like."

"It is tradition that the metal be pure! Gold is pure!" A craftsman grumbled at Sokka.

"What a stupid tradition, no two women are the same! What if they don't like gold?!" Sokka retorted.

The craftsman flushed, knowing enough about the Water Tribe Warrior to growl. "Just because you have dated a woman from every corner of the world."

"Jealous?" Sokka smirked, cheekily.

Zuko rolled his eyes, they came to rest on a huge jar of coloured stones two feet from his sitting position. Two stones inside the jar caught his eye in particular, an amber gemstone next to a pale jade stone. He reached over and stuck his hand into the jar, grabbing the stones and twirling them between his long fingers. A piece of mirror lay on the table, Zuko picked it up carefully and looked at his reflection, and rested the amber gem under his eye, comparing the colour. An almost perfect match. He then gazed at the pale jade stone, he smiled lightly at the colour that resembled Toph's irises so well. He remembered the large fight from last night about traditions and sighed, his hand closed around the stones.

"Fire Nation Tradition says that Fire Nation brides have a pure metal, like gold, for their ring!" the craftsman yelled at Sokka.

Zuko huffed a laugh, "But, she isn't Fire Nation."

…

"OH MY FUCKING MOTHER OF-" Toph yelled, Katara laughed loudly and held her hand, she was starting to lose feeling in her fingers. Suki covered her mouth and snuffled a laugh, Toph turned towards the sound and growled.

The beauticians had become accustomed to Toph's swearing by now, though every time they visibly cringed at the release of a word. Taki had waited until Toph was fed and was in a, reasonably, good mood, before breaking it to her that she has at least an hour of beauty treatments to endure.

There were two women working their way up Toph's legs, thinking that it would result in a quick experience, she felt one of the women lean over and whisper, "_What until we reach her pubic area…_"

"YOU ARE GOING TO WAX _WHAT_?!" She yelled.

"It is a custom in every nationality, helps with consummation." The older beautician said, ripping another strip from Toph's leg. Though she didn't actually have an abundance of body hair, there was enough to draw attention to it. Not that anyone actually cared, especially not Toph.

"Every nationality?" Suki suddenly asked. The woman nodded and smoothed another strip higher on Toph's leg.

Suki lost her smile as she realised she may have to experience exactly what she was mocking Toph for, Toph noticed this as soon as Suki did. "Not so funny now, eh?! Ha haa-AAAAAAAAH!" the woman cringed as Toph's swearing filled the room.

…

Aang waited anxiously for the spirit of healing to speak, she opened her eyes and sighed, "I have not yet tried my powers on a person whom was born with a defect." Aang's mouth twitched at the word _defect_. "Your disabled friend, the one who can fly, I can say with confidence that he could walk with my help, but only for a while. I do not grant miracles, only momentary distractions."

Aang mentally raised an eyebrow, not wanting to show a facial expression, it reminded him of when he came face-to-faces with Koh. The spirit silently raised one of her arms, a single orbs floated down and landed in the palm of her hand. She glanced up at Aang and smiled slowly, "This will help your gliding friend, however there is a catch." She closed her hand and when she opened it, there was a small blue bottle. "When a baby is born, they must learn to walk. Your friend was not born with his disability, but there is no promise that walking will simply… _Return. _He may have to learn from scratch." Aang nodded thoughtfully, he wondered how Tao would react. Aang knew that if Tao had to learn to walk again, it could chew up his time.

The spirit raised her eyes back to the Avatar, "As for your earthbender friend, I cannot say with certainty that I can grant her any period of sight. As, I am the spirit of _healing_, she was born with her defect."

"It is not really a _defect_." Aang growled. As soon as he said it, he regretted it. _Maybe she didn't hear?_ The spirit curled up her top lip. Aang knew that she had heard, she slinked down from her meditating place. She creep towards the Avatar.

"What did you say?" she growled, for the first time, Aang noticed she had teeth like a shark, sharp and white, she had been smiling with tight lips, not allowing him to see them.

Aang squared his shoulders, "Toph is not _defected_, she has taken advantage of something that most wouldn't have been able to handle. She is incredible and has a gift. She does not have a defect." He realised that Longshot was right. He took a deep breath and waited for the spirit to attack, instead, she smirked. Aang blinked, confused.

"If she isn't _defected_," she started, suddenly standing over the Avatar, "why are you trying to _fix _her?"

…

Sokka was sketching on a piece of paper, so far he had drawn five different ring designs. Zuko watched thoughtfully from Sokka's side, making comments and suggestions every now and then. "What about a thick band?" Sokka asked, widening the band on his sketch, "The way I see it is, the thicker the band, the better the weapon it can become." Zuko nodded, agreeing with Sokka.

The craftsmen all raised their heads at the mention of weapons, they were already annoyed that the tradition of crafting a gold wedding ring was being trashed, and now a ring/weapon? They knew that they must make whatever the Fire Lord wanted. "You want a lady to have weapon?" A young craftsman had since shown up, he had introduced himself as Jee.

He too, was annoyed that Zuko did not want to follow tradition, but wanted a challenge. He loitered over to Sokka and Zuko, and gazed upon Sokka's drawings, he raised an eyebrow in interest. "What is that eye thing you have drawn in that circle?" Jee asked, pointing at a symbol drawn in the top corner.

"An eye?! It is the white lotus symbol! My drawing isn't that bad!" Sokka growled. Zuko smiled and lingered on the idea. He rolled the two stones in his hands, matching them up and examining the contrast of the amber against pale jade.

"Hey, I have an idea." Zuko said taking a piece of paper, he quickly drew the lotus symbol.

"Whoa, I didn't know you could draw!" Sokka said, shocked at how accurate and well-drawn the image of the tile was.

"Never came up." Zuko shrugged. He stopped and drew a line straight down the middle of the picture. He sat the pale jade of one side and the amber on the other. Jee pursed his lips, not in distaste, but in concentration.

"I might be able to do that… It will be quite large though, the size of… My thumb nail, perhaps a tad smaller. That is the best I can do." He held his hands out for the stones in Zuko's hand. "It would be ready for your wedding tomorrow."

…

Zuko knocked on Toph's door, a maid opened the door and bowed. "We are done cleaning Lady Toph's room, Fire Lord Zuko." One of the maid's was running a bath and the others were gathering rubbish.

"Thank-you, it definitely looks like it was some job." Zuko smiled, looking at all the amount of rubbish the maids were carrying out, "Is Lady Toph nearby?"

"She should be back any moment." The maid said, bowing and leaving the room after her colleagues. Zuko walked over to Toph's bed and sat down, suddenly he had an idea, he lifted his feet from the floor and started to breathe as quietly as he could. He was about to try and find a way to quiet his heartbeat when he heard Toph and a few others approaching, they were talking. A small smile played on his lips, _I am going to scare her so bad_, he chuckled to himself.

…

Toph walked with Taki, Katara and Suki. "That sucked." Toph grumbled, everywhere they waxed tingled and her legs were sticky.

"I feel for you," Katara smiled, "And you." She laughed at Suki.

"You will have to do it too!" Suki said, crossing her arms.

"Not for a while yet!" Katara laughed loudly back.

"You just need a bath! The maid's would have prepared you one by now." Taki smiled, "Would you like assistance?"

"I am fine. I will come find you all later." Toph sighed, opening her door.

"Lunch in half an hour!" Taki called as Toph shut the door. As soon as she shut the door, she could hear Zuko's heartbeat and faint breathing, _why didn't he announced himself? _She wondered. She started towards the bed, and when Zuko still didn't say anything, she realised that Zuko must have been aiming to surprise her. She walked towards the bathroom, she had an idea herself. She smiled lightly as she stretched and sighed. She had decided that if Zuko could tease her, she could tease him.

She faced away from the bed and smiled, she bent down and touched her toes, something her girl's night had taught her. She slipped off her over-dress with a dramatized growl, "Damn dress." She smirked, playing her part. She was wearing a thin white cotton dress that was halfway up her thigh, she smiled as she bent down and touched her toes again.

Zuko watched, wide eyed, on her bed. His mouth had fallen open and he was blushing furiously, his heart was thumping, he was surprised that she still hadn't heard him. She bent down to touch her toes again, this time only wearing a small cotton dress, Zuko knew he should have looked away._ I should look away, now_. The dress didn't show anything, stopping inches from exposing Toph, Zuko couldn't look away. He felt himself swelling, he started to imagine touching her, _Can I wait one more day? _He asked himself. She slowly stood back up and walked towards the bathroom. She started to slip the small cotton dress off as she walked through the door.

Zuko sat on the bed and watched as a cotton dress shot out the door and landed on the floor. He heard Toph slip into the water. "You coming, Sparky?"

Zuko's mouth hit the floor. "I-I, er, I am not here." _Damnit!_

"I am not going to force you to break tradition. Just come in here, I need help." She laughed. She felt him hop down off the bed and walked towards the bathroom. He walked into the room and looked towards Toph, steam was rising from the water. She was in the water with her legs resting up on the edge of the stone bath, bubbles covered the surface and she had her arms resting behind her head. She smiled and raised her leg, "Now Sparky, I would love if you would clean me feet."

Zuko smiled and took off his boots and socks. He rolled up his pants up to his knees and sat on the edge of the stone bath. Putting his feet in the hot, bubbly water and lifting Toph's small calloused foot into his lap. He massaged her foot with soap, she sighed and sunk deeper into the bath. Zuko smiled.

"So, what are you making us do for the afternoon?" Toph asked after a while.

"I, er, was actually going to give that decision to you." Zuko smiled, rubbing between her toes.

"I thought tradition said that it was your choice." Toph raised her eyebrow.

"I decided to… change some aspects of tradition. After all, you aren't Fire Nation." He smiled. "Are you excited for the wedding?" He asked, moving to her other foot.

"After tasting the food, yeah." Toph smirked, her iris' moving around the room. _Now he decides to change tradition?_

"I was thinking we should go away, after the wedding. Take Appa to Ember Island. So we can have some privacy. Some real privacy." As he was speaking he moved his hand to her ankle and started to massage her leg, impressed by the muscles he could feel. Toph's eyes snapped back to where Zuko's voice was coming from. _Is he seriously going to try to mess with me again?_ She wondered. Her legs were still sensitive from the waxing.

"You know, we haven't discussed last night?" Toph said, gauging his reaction. She felt his hand move further up her leg, caressing her knees and massaging up to her thigh. "You know, our large fight, multiple insults, how you tortured me than just stopped?"

"Torture? I was under the impression you were enjoying it." Zuko growled softly. "And I would hardly count _those_ as insults, Sokka could do better." He moved his long arms up to the inside of her thigh, his warm fingers kneading the soft skin. His sleeves were wet and the steam coming from the water was causing a thin layer of sweat to form over his body.

"I was until you stopped." She growled back, she gasped softly as his fingers moved further up her leg. Zuko smiled as he reached further under the water. Suddenly, Toph reached out and grabbed the tops of his shirt and pulled him into the bath. He fell into the water and his body pushed against her, water splashed onto the floor and washed over Zuko. He gasped and looked at Toph, she smiled cunningly at him as she started to undo the buttons on his shirt. She ran her hands down over his chest and grabbed one of his hands from under the water and placed it on the inside of her thigh, he moved his lips to hers and kissed her deeply. _I guess this isn't breaking tradition…_ Zuko bargained with himself. Toph was thinking along the same lines, _seeing as he is suddenly changing traditions_, she smiled to herself.

He pulled his mouth away from hers and kissed lightly under her ear. He whispered, "You have no idea of the things I want to do right now." His mind flipping through the pages of the books that Ozai and Iroh had given him, his hands touching her wet skin, hot from the water.

"Pfft, you are the only one stopping yourself." She challenged. He kissed down her neck and rubbed the inside of her thigh. He smirked and kissed lower on her neck, his tongue sliding over her collar bone. He bought his lips back to hers, as he deepened the kiss he moved his finger to her entrance, she smiled lightly against his lips. Her blood felt as though it was boiling in expectation, he moved his lips to her neck as he gently pushed his finger into her. She gasped and ached her back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Zuko gently moved his finger in and out, he bit her neck lightly.

As the pain was slowly fading with familiarity, she could understand what Smellerbee meant about enjoying it even when it was painful, she tilted her head back and sighed his name, feeling his heartbeat speed up. Zuko quicken, he smiled as she moaned his name louder, he placed his lips over hers, quieting her. He had been thinking about certain pages in his books, he decided to try it, as he pulled his finger slowly out, he gently slid two in. Toph gasped loudly, not expecting the added width, her nails dug into Zuko's shoulders. "You know," Zuko breathed, "this is the first time that sexual interaction between us wasn't a result of a fight or drunken behaviour."

"Shut-up and don't stop." Toph groaned. Zuko smiled at his soon-to-be wife, and slightly bent his fingers inside her, following detailed instructions from the book on 'Leading up to Intercourse'. Toph could feel something happening inside her, her body heating up and muscles contracting, her breathing became laboured. She had no idea what was happening but had no intention of letting it end. It became more and more intense, spreading throughout her stomach and legs, Zuko gently pushed his thumb against the sensitive spot on the outside of her, while he kept his fingers moving, she cried out. It was building, the feeling growing stronger and stronger, and then… It stopped.

Toph's chest was heaving as Zuko kissed her lightly then stepped out of the bath, the water from his clothes causing a huge puddle on the floor. Toph sat up, anger across her features, Zuko looked at the small woman with a large smile on his face. Her hair was a mess, large parts had fallen out of the bun and stuck to her wet neck and shoulders, her top lip curled up in a snarl and slightly reddened from the kissing. Her small yet strong arms grasped the side of the bath, causing cracks to form in the stone work.

Zuko took a mental shot of her, locking it away in his mind before speaking, "We will be late for lunch. Surely you can wait one more day?" She could hear the smile in his voice. _HE WAS TEASING ME?! ALL THIS TIME?! AGAIN?! _She flushed red with embarrassment.

She flexed her hands and large pieces of the bath crumbled. She shot up into a standing position, bubbles sticking to her and covering her body, chunks of stone in her hands. "You fucking asshole!" she yelled. Zuko chuckled and backed towards the door. "Just you wait! You will be lucky if I even show up tomorrow!"

"See you at lunch, you look beautiful by the way!" Zuko yelled as he ducked out of the room, narrowly avoiding a boulder which flew across the room. As he shut the door and walked towards his room, still smiling. Suki, Katara and Mai walked back around the corner heading towards lunch and almost knocked each other over.

"Zuko? Why are you wet?" Katara laughed. Suki and Mai both smiled and looked at each other, the wet clothing stuck to Zuko like a second skin, he hadn't redone his buttons and his body was glistening in the sun reflected of the marble walls of the palace walkway.

"Er, messing with Toph." Zuko blushed. Katara pulled the water from his hair and clothes, saving him the trip to his room. "Thanks, Katara." He smiled. He turned and started walking with them towards lunch.

"I keep forgetting how attractive he actually is!" Suki whispered to Mai, as Zuko and Katara chatted loudly.

"I keep trying too." Mai whispered back.

…

Aang sighed as he returned to the physical world, he let his head fall into his hands. Longshot lifted his eyes to the Avatar and raised an eyebrow. Longshot had guarded Aang's body all night, not wanting to leave one of the world's most important people alone and unprotected.

"You were right. She can't help Toph. And she managed to make me feel like a total dick-of-a-friend." Aang said, looking up at Longshot. He saw Longshot's eyes glance at the small glass bottle hanging from Aang's fingers. "For Tao. The spirit thinks he _might_ be able to walk for a bit. She estimated a week, but she wasn't specific." Aang examined the bottle closely for the first time, it was blue glass with a cork stopper. A ruby decorated the top of the stopper, it was hanging from a long piece of fine leather.

Longshot smirked. He gestured over his shoulder and helped Aang to his feet.

Aang smiled half-hearted, assuming that Longshot was telling him about lunch. "Thanks."

…

"That is beside the point, the Duke!" Jet said, throwing grapes into his mouth. "You gotta consider the other positives! Like, they are sleek and quite unique." Holding his hooks up to show the Duke and Sokka.

"That rhymed." The Duke smiled, sipping from his cup.

"You have a point with the streamline factor, but you can't conceal them, I can hide these anywhere!" Suki said, pulling her fans from her thighs. The Duke and Jet nodded thoughtfully.

"So, how was your day Toph? I haven't seen you since… Last night!" Ty Lee chirped, as she sipped from a glass. The group was sitting in the shade of a large tree on cushions, eating a large selection of food and various wines and juices. Everyone was involved in various conversations, but they all smiled towards Toph when Ty Lee called on her.

Toph half snarled in response, Katara nudged her shoulder. "_Be nice_." Katara growled in a hushed tone.

Toph looked towards Ty Lee's voice and plastered a heavily sarcastic smile on her face, "Oh my dear Ty Lee, today has been great so far: awoken early by a man that can talk a mile-a-minute directly after a nightmare that I actually lived through; asked the same questions twenty times by caterers until I give them the answer they want to hear; uncomfortable fittings and people constantly reminding me how _lucky _I am to be marrying Fire Lord Shithead. Wait, did I mention I was brutally _tortured_ and embarrassed?" Everyone stared, Ty Lee's mouth fell open, shocked at the hostile response. "Oh, and I was waxed from head to fucking toe as well. So, yeah, it has been a great day so far. How is yours going?" Toph finished, holding the smile in place for a few more seconds before dropping it.

Katara rolled her eyes and drunk from her cup. Ty Lee still had her mouth hanging open, "Umm, I, yeah, good. Thanks Toph." She pouted, annoyed.

Toph shoved half a bowl of noodles into her mouth and chewed loudly. Longshot snorted a laugh, Smellerbee laughed softly and Sokka joined, they were sitting next to Toph. Across from them, Zuko and Aang had their hands over their mouths trying to hide their own laughter. Ty Lee's pout turned into a smirk than a giggle, as did Katara's scowl. Tao and Jin snorted into their glasses and Haru threw his head back and laughed. Soon Toph, with a mouth full of food started to laugh too. It wasn't long before the whole group was laughing.

"So, what are you two doing this afternoon?" Smellerbee asked once everyone calmed down. "Didn't you say it was Toph's choice, Zuko?"

Zuko nodded with a mouthful of food, then swallowed, "I hope it is something fun." He smiled at Toph, who only glowered towards him. Then she had a great idea of what to do. She cleared her throat, everyone looked at her.

"Sparring matches." She smirked, "That is what we can do. It will be interesting considering I have been aching to go against Jet and his hooks."

"So, non-benders can fight too?" The Duke raised an eyebrow, usually he sat on the side and watched. This always annoyed him as he considered himself a good fighter.

"If you think you can handle it." Toph smiled cunningly. "Of course, we aren't trying to kill anyone. Just seriously injure." Toph turned her head towards Zuko, he when her eyes settled on him swallowed. _Shit_, he thought.

…

Haru was drenched in water and heaving heavily, Katara was also drenched but with the added presence of mud. Suddenly she swung her hand from behind her, and a sweeping motion, the water from the fountain leap out of the fountain and headed straight at Haru. He gasped and snapped his hands up to raise the earth beneath his feet. The water splashed around the stone, Haru got cocky and laughed. Katara flicked her hands up and water climbed the stone pillar and engulfed Haru, it rapidly froze around him. "Ahhh! Cold! You win! You win!" Haru called.

Katara bought her hands towards her, the water slowly engulfed her, she made it swirl until she felt no trace of dirt or mud on her, before depositing the water back into the fountain. She lifted the water from her wet clothes and then walked towards Haru. "Nice try. But you are messing with the Avatar's Sifu!" she laughed. Aang flew across the field and embraced her.

"Wooh! What a woman!" He smiled, kissing her cheek.

Iroh and Taki walked onto the field, "Katara, your fighting style is impressive." Iroh smiled. Taki applauded lightly while still holding a small umbrella over Iroh, even though Iroh didn't want it there. "Who is going next?" taking a sip from his tea cup.

"I want to go against…" Sokka looked around the group. "You! May I have this… Dance? Soon-to-be Fire Lady Toph?"

"You are going to die." She laughed as they walked onto the field.

"Fight!" Smellerbee called. Sokka drew his boomerang and threw it was hard as he could, Toph ducked and kicked a boulder at him, he dodged and ran towards her. Sokka and Toph often trained together when they could, both learning each other's styles. Toph raised two pillars on either side of her and had them slide towards Sokka, he missed one and was tripped by the other, but he was on his feet again before Toph could act. Sokka laughed and raised his hand, catching his boomerang.

"What do you say we call a partner out here to help?" Sokka laughed as he circled Toph.

"Tired already?" Toph laughed back.

"Two on two scares you?" Sokka called as he charged, Toph skipped out of the way and raised a block, Sokka dodged it and threw his boomerang again.

"Fine, who do you pick?" Toph asked, listening for the boomerang returning.

"Aang!" Sokka yelled. Toph rolled her eyes, of course Sokka would pick air. She felt Aang running onto the field.

"Longshot!" Toph called, she heard the boomerang returning as she called out, she was about to turn and take care of it when she heard a click and Sokka gasp. Longshot had shot an arrow directly through one of the decorative holes in boomerang, causing it to fall to the ground. Longshot ran out to Toph and stood by her side, poised to strike.

"BOOMERANG! NOOOO! I WILL AVENGE YOOOOOUUUUU!" Sokka yelled, dropping to his knees in fake horror and sadness. Toph rolled her eyes, Longshot smiled and Aang laughed. Suddenly Sokka leapt up and charged at Toph, she leapt backwards and laughed as she caused a small bit of earth to trip him. Aang took a chance at Longshot distraction and airbended at him, Longshot felt the attack coming and focused all attention on Aang, he pulled out his bow and loaded a small rubber ball, he shot at Aang. Aang saw it coming and pulled up a length of razor sharp earth to slice it.

"ONE ELEMENT ONLY!" The Duke yelled. Iroh chuckled.

"Damn." Aang dropped the earth and was hit by the ball of rubber. "Ow!" he flew across towards Longshot, and created a cyclone around them. Longshot tried to shot again, but the ball was thrown off course by the wind. Longshot dropped his bow and pulled out two pieces of wood, both a foot long and one inch diameter and knocked Aang's hands out of their routine. Aang and Sokka often practised hand-to-hand combat, but Longshot had been doing it since he was young.

Toph engulfed Sokka in stone and was about to shot him towards the group when she felt something. She stopped and looked towards the group, feeling beyond them, Sokka followed her line of sight and saw nothing. "Toph? What is it?"

Aang and Longshot stopped and turned towards Toph, Aang sent out his seismic sense and furrowed his brow. "What is that?"

"I, I think they are earthbenders." Toph said. Shooting Aang a look.

"Erm, Toph, let me out." Sokka said. Toph wasn't listening.

The group by now had realized something was wrong, they started to walk swiftly towards the rink. Taki suddenly started to walk towards the wall, not wanting to leave Iroh's tea set unattended, Jet sighed and ran after him to help. "Leave it!" Iroh called, Jet pulled Taki away and tried to catch up to the group.

Toph could feel something was moving rapidly towards them, from underground, heading for... "JET! TAKI! LOOK OUT!" Toph yelled, as she realized where the first intruder was heading.

Jet turned as someone shot out from the ground and flew towards him, before he could draw his weapons, they buried a dagger deep into his side and another into his shoulder. Taki didn't have time to turn as a blade slipped across his throat and jammed into his spine.

Jet fell to the ground in shock, watching as Taki bled out and collapsed beside him, Jet tried to reach for him to help. The first stranger was joined by more.

They glared at the Avatar and his friends. There was a group of men closely huddled together walking through the assembly, they were protecting someone.

"Now Toph, I think it is time you stop this nonsense and come home immediately, you silly girl."

Toph's heart sunk. "Dad?" _No_.


	16. Bluffs

**Just letting you all know, there are time jumps in this- usually only a few days at a time.**

**R/R = More Chapters**

**Stay honest.**

Lao and Poppy sat in their house, the unopened scroll between them. The Fire Nation seel seemed to glow in the sunshine. It was early afternoon in Gaoling and Poppy was dwelling on the afternoon Toph had ran for Appa, in the middle of trying to introduce her to a general and his twenty-six year-old son. Than the week before she left during the conversation when they were trying to introduce her to the son of the Mayor of a major nearby town.

The Fire Nation hawk screamed, reminding the Bei Fong's that the scroll existed. They knew it was not news of death or illness, as there was a white ribbon looped around the scroll, meaning good news. Lao beckoned one of his servants forward and asked him to read it aloud to himself and Poppy. He sipped from his tea as the young servant read:

"_Lao and Poppy Bei Fong of the Bei Fong Household;  
Enclosed in this scroll is a letter from Fire Lord Zuko,  
Son of Ozai and a personal message from Lady Toph  
Bei Fong_."

The servant sighed as he untied the first scroll, Lao and Poppy exchanged a look of confusion.

"_Lao and Poppy Bei Fong of the Bei Fong Household;  
I am writing with the intention of utmost respect. I  
have asked the wonderful Lady Toph Bei Fong to become  
my bride and my nations Fire Lady. Under different  
circumstances I would have asked your permission,  
but as a limit of time was given I could not afford to  
lose any valuable time.  
Please find official documents and necessary dates  
enclosed. Sincerely, Fire Lord Zuko, Son of Ozai._"

There was silence as the servant placed Zuko's letter on the table and picked up Toph's. Lao was staring blankly at his tea cup. The servant started to read Toph's letter.

"_Lao and Poppy Bei Fong of the Bei Fong Household;  
Dad and Mum;  
Just writing to let you know that I am engaged, surprise!  
The wedding is in nine days, we have added two extra  
days to allow for comfortable travel. The wedding is a  
grand event for all members of the family, especially the  
parents of the bride- you get presents and complements.  
Which I thought was pretty sweet. Zuko and I hope to see  
you there.  
I love you. Toph."_

The servant fell silent, he watched Lao's face turn red, and he placed the scroll on the table and backed away.

"She can't be serious. After all these years of rebuilding what the Fire Nation destroyed, she wants to be one of them?" Lao said, crinkling his nose in anger, he suddenly threw the fine porcelain tea cup at the wall behind a servant, everyone jumped at the outburst, except Poppy.

"She is getting married?" Poppy was overjoyed, she was always worried that no man would want to take a defected bride. She couldn't care who it was too, even if it had been Ozai himself, as long as someone would love her. She smiled lightly, but her husband did not share the same views.

"Poppy, get your head out of the clouds. We have to go get her, I will not have her searing our family name. We will leave at dawn. Write a reply so they do not expect us to arrive, until she is married, she lives by _my_ rules. Go get the General and tell him, in exchange for his help, his son can have our daughter to wed, as soon as they like." Lao said confidently, knowing there is no way the General would allow his son to pass up a war hero.

…

Toph snapped her wrists towards the sky, encasing Jet and Taki in a protective shell, hoping to guard them from any fighting that may ensue. She then snapped her wrist down to drop the rock covering Sokka. Zuko stood beside Toph, his arms in a defensive position, he was sweeping the area and trying to find where his guards were. As if reading Zuko's mind, a few of the men behind Lao Bei Fong dropped helmets and spears, that were obviously Fire Nation on the ground, the sound echoed.

"You _are_ coming home, Toph." Lao called, gesturing to four men to go collect his daughter.

"No, Dad! I-" she started.

"Toph! Now! You are not staying here! You are not marrying this boy! You will not betray your kingdom!" Lao yelled.

"She isn't going anywhere." Zuko snarled, lighting his fists. Sokka grunted in agreement and stood beside him with his club. Aang took out his staff and walked towards Lao.

"Good afternoon Lao," Aang started, he plastered a smile on his face, wanting to avoid any violence, "Perhaps this conversation would be better suited to inside? The war chamber, perhaps?"

"Do not interfere with family matters, Avatar." Lao growled, the General on his right nodded.

"Usually, I would respect that, but you have gravely injured one of our friends, and slaughtered the other." Aang lost his smile on 'slaughtered' and his arrow started to glow, as if to threaten the strangers. The General smiled and walked back towards the protective case Toph had formed, he collapsed it and pulled Jet out by his feet. Then picked him up by his hair and neck.

"If you do not co-operate," the General twisted the knife in Jet's side, "he gets it." Jet cried out in pain and swore. Aang lowered his eyebrows, questioning the General's bluff.

"Aang, it is near his vital organs, it will kill him." Katara whispered, he realized Katara was right and let his glowing cease. Jet cried out again as the General twisted the dagger. "Please stop!" Katara yelled walking towards Jet, Aang held his arm out, stopping her, he didn't want her to be in their clutches. The General dropped Jet, Toph could feel his irregular heartbeat, he groaned in pain. Toph reached out her senses for Taki's body, feeling for a heartbeat, nothing. Toph frowned lightly thinking of Taki's husband.

"Why do _earthbenders_ always want to _kill_ _me_?" Jet coughed. The General growled and kicked his in the side, just above the knife. Jet cried out and rolled on to his back. Toph knew she needed to get him out of there.

Toph looked towards Katara, "Get ready, Sugar Queen. We are about to play catch." Toph shoved her left foot onto the ground with considerable force, sending the small army back a few metres, in the same movement, she twisted her foot as it landed on the ground and pushed one of her hands up, Jet shot into the air with a shout of pain. Katara jumped and swung her leg around, swirling her hands like she had in invisible sphere in them before shooting them skywards towards Jet, the water from the fountain engulfed him and soften his fall as Katara safely removed the knives and started healing him. Smellerbee took bandages out of Longshot's quiver and threw them to Jin who was helping Katara.

The General had lost his leverage, he kept a straight face and cussed the little woman who he was hoping would soon be his daughter-in-law. Poppy had warned the troops that her daughter was tough and stubborn, before Lao had told her not to speak out in front of men on military matters.

The General straightened up and looked at the group. So far, he knew the Avatar, the old man, the Fire Lord, the Bei Fong girl and the healer were benders. His ex-prisoner was not. There was a watertribe warrior and a young man with a moustache, two girls with fans, one with knives, and a boy with a quiver.

The girl with bushy hair was helping the healer, a girl with the bandana, a boy in a wheelchair and a young boy with an old helmet all looked like they were definitely not benders and/or easy to defeat. They would be the targets. He needed leverage.

He had figured all this out while his battalion were still getting to their feet. He decided the boy in the wheelchair would act as great leverage, obviously the sympathy the group would have for him would result in a trade. "Get Lao out of here and back on the ship, he will be joined soon." The General whispered. As part of the agreement, Lao had to co-operate.

Toph was feeling with everything she had, and she knew Aang was too. It had been a whole minute since she had retrieved Jet, and knew the General would react. Suddenly, she heard him whisper and felt her dad leaving. Something was about to happen, she could feel quaking all around her they were trying to throw her and Aang off. Haru could feel it to and took a step towards Katara, in case they needed defending, by doing this, he was stepping away from Tao.

The General smiled and Toph felt where his earthbending was heading, "Tao! Move!" Toph yelled, as she sent out a huge crack in the ground to try and deter the General's attack, it did no good, the General bought his hand up and smashed them together, Tao's wheelchair was sucked into the earth and crushed, shooting him out. When he landed the ground swallowed him inches from Toph's attempt to protect him.

"_NOO_!" Jin screamed, one hand stopping Jet's bleeding shoulder, the other bloodstained and reaching for where he had disappeared.

"No! Give him back!" the Duke shouted, diving onto the patch of earth that had taken him. The Duke turned towards the smiling General, and pulled out his two foot long blades. The General smiled, his hand poised, like he was holding someone's head in it.

"Now, you try anything, I crush his skull." The General snickered, _ah, the upper hand, how I missed you_. He smiled to himself. "The Bei Fong girl, for your crippled friend." Toph's mouth was hanging open, she had a feel on Tao, but regardless of what she did, the General could kill him quicker than she could help him, she couldn't help him without moving her body. _If only I could tell him to dig_, she could feel his heart frantic with fear. "He will be out of oxygen soon, maybe I won't need to murder him." The General sneered.

Iroh growled softly, "He isn't bluffing, Lady Toph. What is you plan?"

The General called across the yard, "All I have to do is clench my hand into a fist, and he will be crushed to death. Like squishing a grape." He closed his hand a few millimetres. His smile widened.

Jin whimpered, the Duke growled. Mai fingered her best throwing knife, ready to pierce his hand at a seconds notice.

Toph sighed, her chest felt empty. "I am going home." She whispered, knowing she had no choice, feeling the earth, once her ally, slowly constricting her friend.

Zuko growled, "You can't! Please!", then he whispered frantically, "We can figure something else out-"

Toph turned and grabbed Zuko by the shirt, pulled him down and crushed her lips to his. This was the first time they had kissed in front of anyone. Then, she released him and walked away, he watched her go. She quickly grabbed Sokka and pulled him in for a hug, she pushed her lips to his ear and whispered softly.

Sokka hugged her tightly in response.

"That's a good girl." The General cooed as she walked towards him, when she was less than a few metres away he smiled widely as a young, tall man leapt out from behind him and jabbed her multiple times in her pressure points, she gasped as she lost her bending, and then her _sight_. She hit the ground with an '_oof'_. Ty Lee's eyes widened and she started towards them, Smellerbee and Suki grabbed her. Zuko shouted her name, but Sokka grabbed his arms, restraining him.

"LET ME GO!" He yelled. "TOPH?!"

"He still has Tao! Let her go, her parents won't harm her! EVERYONE MUST STAY PUT!" Sokka yelled, Longshot was poised with an arrow and Mai had her knives ready. Zuko fell to his knees as he watched the tall man sling Toph over his shoulder like a bag of cabbages. She coughed as the air escaped from her lungs. She heard the men file out of the yard, breaking down the wall for easier exit. The General and the man carrying Toph were the last people to leave.

"What about Tao?!" Toph wheezed, the sound carried to her friends. Katara, still working on saving Jet, listened, Jin sniffed back her tears.

"Better start digging." The General laughed, as he clenched his fist.

"TAO!" Toph screamed, when she realised what he had done. The General laughed as they walked away.

Toph sobbed as the last thing she heard, were her friends. Screaming, as they hysterically tried to recover their friend's buried body.

…

Zuko sat in his office. Two days had passed, he hadn't gotten any sleep, the days of when he suffered from insomnia and paranoia circled in his mind, he didn't want to return to that.

He had his head in his hands and was staring at the little ring box on his desk. "Are you going to open it?" Suki asked, placing her hand on his shoulder. He silently pushed it towards her. She sighed and picked up the small box, Mai and Katara moved closer.

Suki opened the box, the ring was a thick gold-coloured band that had a rose tone to it. A large pearl was sanded into a flat disc that was only slightly smaller in width than the band. On one side of the pearl was the amber stone, on the other was the pale jade, they were smaller than the pearl, but large enough to see details sketched into them. "I recognise the white lotus symbol," Katara said, pointing at the beautifully engraved symbol on the pearl, "but I have no clue what those two symbols are…"

"What?" Zuko suddenly asked, _that doesn't sound like the design_. He stood and looked at the ring in Suki's hand. The 'knotweed' Pai Sho tile was engraved onto the amber stone and the 'rock' Pai Sho tile was engraved onto the pale jade. Zuko looked at the exquisite detail of the engraving.

"There is a note in here." Aang said, pulling a strip of paper out of the small box. He read it out: "_Fire Lord Zuko, I found out about Lady Toph as I was about to begin your ring. I understand you are hurting. I hope the meaning of the ring helps.  
I realized that the amber stone was to represent you, Lady Toph is pale jade. That is why you picked them, no? Your eye colours? As you know, knotweed is the fire tile and rock is the earth tile.  
I am sure you were aiming to show your unity by having both stone in the symbol. But the rock and knotweed tiles are both strong and immoveable, without assistance from the other. Yet, when used together, it is hard to lose_. _I have them separated to show they are different, but both are encased in the rose coloured golden-metal, the colour and the material are fire and earth combined. Jee._"

"Whoa," Sokka said, "That is… Deep."

Zuko suddenly pointed at a servant waiting at the door, "I want the war chamber prepared for myself and my friends, food, water, tea and Iroh."

…

"Regardless!" Sokka shouted across at a general, "Even if they pursued us immediately, Appa can out fly them, we would be here, they would be married and all would be right before they even touched the Nation's shores!"

"The time is up! Fire Lord Zuko must marry the next in line! Which is," the general pulled out his scroll, disappointed not to see his own daughter's name, "Lady Mai." Mai's head shot up at the sound of her name.

"I was the second choice? Who was third?" Mai asked.

"No one, Lady Mai. The Fire Lord only chose two possible brides." He snorted with annoyance.

"Oh, well, in that case, I decline." Mai shrugged, "We best go get that earth brat back." She smiled across at Zuko who smiled in response.

A group of generals came to find Zuko after learning Toph was returned home, excited that he would not be wed to her. They charged in on Zuko and his friends working on a plan to retrieve Toph after Sokka shared an _edited_ version of the words she had whispered to him. "_Feel free to come help me out. No more than a month preferably._" He thought it sounded more like Toph than what she actually said.

"What makes you think that Lao Bei Fong will simply let you take his daughter back? Won't he just come after her again?" another general sneered.

Haru cleared his throat, "Actually, once a daughter is married, they can choose to be separate from their family and are free to make decisions that will benefit the production of their _own_ family. Earth Kingdom traditions." He smirked, Ty Lee smiled at the handsome man she placed her hand on his knee.

"Haven't your friends and your _fiancée _caused enough blood to be spilt?" referring to Taki, not a single person in the palace had disliked him. Everyone was heart-broken to find out about his death.

Sokka growled. "We aren't asking for permission. We _are_ getting her back. We _are_ leaving as soon as we get our shit together and a decent plan. And you can fucking deal with it!"

The word's Toph had whispered to him jumped around his inside his head. "If you don't help me get out of there. I will never be able to leave." Her voice had broken, he had squeezed her, assuring her that they will come.

…

She lay on a large bed, she had stopped crying two days ago. It was a week long journey via boat that they were only five days into, and she could hear the sounds that the giant vessel made as it forced its way through the strong winds and rain.

Every few hours the same man would return with her father and the General, he would jab her pressure points to keep her bending away. It was after the second visit that Lao had introduced him as the General's son and her future husband, the one they tried to introduce her too. Every visit from then on, the General would make a snide comment out of Lao's hearing range.

The latest being, "Isn't it lucky he can do this? Should keep you in check." The son had chuckled at his father's remark. _Are all general's assholes?_ She would snarl to herself. Then she would think of Iroh. Then she would think of Zuko, _I will get back_.

The large door opened suddenly, _three hours already?_ Toph held still, hearing her father and the usual accompanying party walk in.

"You need to understand this is for your own good, Toph." Lao would say, stroking his daughter's hair, after he had tried to coax conversation from her.

Toph jutted out her jaw and snarled, "How?" she turned her head towards him, "You dare say this is for me? I _was_ happy. Then you decide to come in, murder two of my friends and take me away from one of the only people who accept me." Her throat started to swell at the mention of Tao and Taki, she turned her head away.

"And you will be happy again. You will be married in a month. Our families will be joined, and our bloodlines stronger than before. Jo-Lou will make a fine husband."

_Jo-Lou? I have heard that before… Somewhere._ Toph knew she had heard the name, but for her to be so sure, she knew it must be for a bad reason. _Everyone remembers villains_, she thought dryly.

"You should consider yourself thankful, Jo-Lou spent quite a period of time in the Fire Nation as a spy. Quite successfully too. He is a top Earth Kingdom citizen and a fine young man! He managed to infiltrate the Fire Nation and gather information from nobles by performing in a _circus_!" The General laughed. Toph's eyes flew open. _Jo-Lou? Circus? Ty Lee._

Jo-Lou leant over Toph briefly to finish the chi-blocking, "That isn't the only thing I _infiltrated_." The General's son smirked cockily. His father laughed softly and patted him on the back, Lao missed the entire exchange, as he called for the maids to come resume their watch.

"You fuck." Toph snarled.

He chuckled softly in response, "I thought I recognised the acrobat, she is one of your friend's, right? I knew she would eventually crumble and cry to someone. What was her name?" he thought for a second then shrugged, "At least feel comfort in the fact that I will remember yours. Toph." He stroked his fingers across her cheek and left.

_I am going to kill him first_. She smirked.

…

Ty Lee sat in her room, her hands wrapped around her knees, the rain poured down outside and made the room colder, her candle flickered threateningly. _What a miserable day for the Fire Nation_, she thought sadly. The group was planning to leave in a few days, it had been almost eight days since Toph had been taken, and Ty Lee was certain the man who took her was Jo-Lou and his father.

She almost didn't realize it was him, she knew that he had left the circus at some point. She always thought he was Fire Nation. Something that felt like insects crawled around her stomach as she thought about him. She hoped Toph's parents were always with her when he was near.

Something interrupted her train of thought.

Haru poked his head inside the door and smiled, "May I enter your humble abode?" he smiled, water dripping from his hair. She smiled and nodded. "I just finished the best mud fight with Sokka and the Duke, I needed to have a shower. Anyway, I was wonde- wait, are you cold?" He suddenly asked.

"Yeah, a little." She laughed, then sighed.

"What's wrong?" Haru asked, taking off his shirt and handing it to her, he had noticed that she had been acting herself for a while now. She half-smiled and shrugged. Her eyes traced the lines of his body, his wide shoulders, he was in the middle of tying his wet hair back out of his face.

"Nothing overly. I saw someone I think I recognised." She wasn't speaking in her usual cheery voice, she slipped the large shirt on and breathed in his scent. "The more I linger? Think? No… Dwell. The more I dwell on it, the more I think it might be _him_." She peered up at Haru.

"_Him_? An ex-boyfriend?" Haru smiled lightly, but a pang of jealousy shot through him. Ty Lee hadn't told him the story, she sighed again and slowly started. It was a lot harder for her to tell Haru, she considered that it may have been due to the lack of wine, or maybe just because she had grown strong feelings, and didn't want him to think less of her.

Haru sat, listened and watched as Ty Lee held herself, her eyes brimmed and she sniffed as she spoke. "He made me get on my hands and knees and face away, he didn't want to see me crying. I am a disgrace," she finished, "and I will always have that hanging over me."

Haru suddenly stood, he looked at Ty Lee, shook his head and walked out of the room, Ty Lee was shocked and hurt pulsed through her body. _I shouldn't have told him, I have scarred him off_.

Then there was a grunting sound at the door, Ty Lee looked up to see Haru hefting in all the bedding from his room. Without a word he threw it all onto her bed. He cleared his throat and sat on the bed next to her. He grabbed her hands in his, "I want you to listen to me. Really carefully." He started, "He made you feel useless, he made you feel as though he was your only option. He is the disgrace, he is the pig. You are beautiful and perfect and I promise, I will _never_ make you feel that way. Ever."

Ty Lee smiled, tears brimming over. He continued softly, blushing slightly. "I, er, I just realised I didn't think this through, but I brought my bed stuff in here because you were cold and I would love to be with you in the warmth, but, it is up to you." Haru smiled. Ty Lee just smiled as she crawled under the covers and patted the spot next to her. He smiled as he climbed in and wrapped his large warm arms around her.

…

"When will we be flying out?" Zuko asked Aang. He was feeding Appa down in the stables. Momo jumped onto Zuko's shoulder and started searching through his wet hair, hoping to find insects. The rain hammered down. Aang didn't hear Zuko come in and was singing softly to himself, Appa acting as the back-up singer.

"Two days at the latest. I don't like the look of these clouds. I flew up through them earlier and they stretch for miles." Aang said, as he threw another cabbage into Appa's open mouth. "Sokka was right to give them a week head start. Lao would have been expecting a rebuttal, he will probably lower the amount of security if he thinks we aren't attacking."

"Yeah, he is pretty clever with plans." He twisted the ring on his pinkie finger, once he had read what it meant, he felt as though it should be with him, his pinkie finger was the only finger it fit. "Aang? Do you think she is okay?"

"Who? Toph? Pfft! She can look after herself. I doubt she would want us to help at all if she didn't actually need it. I have a feeling they will be keeping a chi-blocking expert nearby at all times, which is probably the only reason she needs us." He smiled.

"I can't help feeling this is my fault. If I had just stuck to tradition and kept my hands off her… Maybe, none of this would have happened." Zuko smirked half-heartedly then frowned.

"Zuko, I don't know what you want me to say. But I am going to tell you something I have noticed." Aang faced Zuko, with a small smile on his face. "When I flew down to pick Toph up, when you saw her for the first time in ages, not only did you blush ridiculously, but your hug lasted ages. The way you both balance each other is something special. Now, I am not an expert on relationships, but I have seen you doubt yourself like five times in the past weeks- I haven't seen Toph doubt her decisions once. Lao would have demanded she come home regardless of her relationship status. The old council would have found a way to get her in trouble. And Miko would have still been a perverted old fuck."

Zuko looked at Aang, _he has a point_. Aang continued, "So, if you are the only one doubting anything, maybe you are the problem… I mean, do you love her?"

"I think I do." Zuko said, smiling lightly.

"Then what else do you need to rely on?! Love is all you need." The happy Avatar smiled as Appa took the cabbage from his hand. "Come on, I am starving." Aang slung his arm over Zuko and they walked out into the rain.


End file.
